Residencies, Festivals, Fellowships and Funds

Varuna Residential Fellowships for Writers

Each year since 1991 Varuna has offered Residential Fellowships. Over this time Varuna has developed a unique environment encouraging sustained work, conversation and community among writers. Varuna Fellowships offer writers a residency in an environment wholly dedicated to writing, with accommodation and full board provided, to develop an established writing project.

CLOSING 30/07/2018

Digital Writers Festival Artist Call Out

The Digital Writers’ Festival is an online-first writers’ festival dedicated to celebrating the work of writers from Australia and across the world, and fostering new relationships through collaboration between writers, where ever they may be. We’re running an open artist call out for writers to put up their hands and let us know they’d like to be involved in the sure-to-be-incredible 2018 program. Best of all, location is no barrier to access – you can be anywhere from Darwin to Dunedin, Johannesburg to Jaipur.

CLOSING 1/08/2018

Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writers Centre Residencies

The KSP Writers' Centre is proud to support the development of literary work by hosting a number of annual residencies for writers. Each year, we offer placements in the categories of NextGen; Emerging; and Established.

Emerging applications closing 29/07/2018; Next Gen applications closing 26/08/2018

Hachette Australia Manuscript Development Program

This program is a creative and professional skills development intensive that helps emerging Australian writers to refine an existing manuscript. Each year up to 10 writers are selected through a competitive submission process to take part in a four-day retreat, during which Hachette Australia publishers, editors and authors provide direct feedback on their manuscripts.

CLOSING 17/08/2018

Createability Internship Program

The Createability Internship Program includes customised training for up to eight participants with disability, facilitated by the leading arts + disability organisation, Accessible Arts, followed by paid internships in major organisations across the arts, screen and cultural sectors.

CLOSING 24/08/2018

The ABC Heywire Competition

The annual Heywire cycle begins with a storytelling competition - open to people aged 16-22, living in regional or rural Australia. Heywire encourages young people to tell stories about their life outside the major cities in text, photo, video or audio format. Over the past 17 years more than 9,000 young Australians have taken part.

Tell a story about an aspect of your life, where you live. When your story is ready, submit it by filling in our simple online entry form by September 16, 2018 to be in the running to win.

CLOSING 16/09/2018

2018 Granada Writers in Residence Program

Granada UNESCO City of Literature and the University of Granada are setting up this programme to foster contacts and forge bonds between writers from Granada and those from other cities and countries all over the world, to extend the international reach of Granada-based writers, to build international awareness of the cultural fabric of the city of Granada, and to promote Granada as a city of the arts that welcomes talent from abroad with open arms.

The Granada Writers in Residence Programme is targeted at emerging writers, residing in any country in whichever language they write.

CLOSING 20/09/2018

Publications Seeking Submissions

Yale Drama Series 2019 Competition Call for Submissions

The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2019 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series' current judge, Ayad Akhtar. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater. The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright's agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement.

CLOSING 15/08/2018

Submit to the Australian Multilingual Writing Project

The first edition of the Australian Multilingual Writing Project will feature only poetry. Submissions are open to all multilingual people living in Australia regardless of visa status or citizenship. Multilingual Australians living abroad are also welcome to contribute. We are looking for poetry that mixes English with at least one other language.

CLOSING 17/08/2018

Call for Submissions: Growing Up Queer in Australia

A new anthology is open for submissions from all LGBTIQ writers in Australia. The collection will be edited by Benjamin Law, author of Gaysia, The Family Law and Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101.

We are looking for first-person pieces about growing up as a member of the queer (LGBTIQ) community, however you identify. These can be in any tone, style or format but we are not looking for scholarly works. What we hope to receive is honest, original and personal nonfiction from people of all ages and backgrounds. We are particularly interested in pieces that defy, question or shed light on the many stereotypes that currently exist about our vibrant extended community. Editor Benjamin Law says: ‘If in doubt, write the story you wish you’d read growing up.’

Submissions should be between 1000 and 4000 words, and must be received by Friday 1 September 2018. Late entries will not be accepted.

CLOSING 1/09/2018

Foreshadow: A Serial YA Anthology

FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology will be published monthly for a single year starting in January 2019 and ending December 2019, and will feature stellar YA stories from established and emerging authors. Each issue will feature three stories, one of which will be from a new voice specially selected by a beloved author. Our debut issue, Issue Zero, will be published in summer 2018 to coincide with our fundraising campaign. We are seeking original YA short stories. 

CLOSING 1/09/2018

Submit to Voiceworks 113, 'Flare'

Here we huddle with the mangrove roots. We grasp their hands and gasp as one, breathing together through the pores of craterous black sand. Little crabs and snails and creatures and half-crushed shells, we all stay low and watch the pink sky fold inwards like a fortune cookie. The sand tucks itself into folds of denim jean ankles. A beacon to remember behind closed lids, later. We blink and blink and blink and watch neon ions dance with our pinpoint pupils. The soot grows and grows and colours the dome. The flicker turns, rocketing towards spinning eruption. We watch the curve of the earth closing in above our bodies. We hold hands holding hands hands holding hands and listen to the sounds of our hearts and wet eyelids wet sand gripping onto mangrove roots.

Deadlines: Nonfiction pitches: Sunday 19 August, 11:59pm; fiction, poetry, and completed nonfiction submissions: Sunday 2 September, 11:59pm; Art, comic pitches and finished comics: Sunday 30 September, 11:59pm

Rabbit Poetry

RABBIT is currently accepting submissions of nonfiction poetry for Issue 26: The BELONGING Issue, to be guest edited by Sydney-based poet Eileen Chong.

CLOSING 1/10/2018

Baby Teeth Journal

Baby Teeth Journal is a literary and multi-media arts publication based in Wollongong NSW. We have a focus on local, queer creators but accept submissions from across the globe. We welcome submissions from almost every artistic medium. Flat rate of $50.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Threepenny Review

The Threepenny Review is one of the most well renowned and respected literary journals in America. They publish authors from all over the world, and many famous writers, both poets and fiction writers have been published in The Threepenny Review. The Threepenny review also pays very well. They pay $400 per short story and $200 per poem. This is a good amount of money for even a print journal to offer its contributors. It is far more than most literary publications offer.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Renaissance Magazine

Renaissance Magazine accepts the following unsolicited content related to the Renaissance and Middle Ages for consideration: Articles related to history, travel, Renaissance Faires, the SCA and related reenactment groups; Interviews with artists, artisans, performers, reenactors, and scholars; Book reviews (historical fiction and nonfiction are acceptable); and Music CDs and CD reviews. The average feature article is approximately 1,500 words. Features pay 10 cents/word. Columns of 500 to 1,000 words pay $50. Columns of 200 to 400 words pay $25.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Story Seed Vault

The Vault is an online periodical that adheres to the limitation of Twitter publishing. We consider all types of fiction with one condition – your story must be based on science.

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS FROM THE 10TH - 24TH OF EVERY MONTH

Submittable Eclectic Essays

We’re always on the lookout for short, engaging essays. We tend to favor work about the life, work, and process of writing, publishing, visual art, or any other creative pursuit. We’re also interested in the interplay of the arts and tech, whether drawn from your personal experience, or from observations of the world at large. Often, though, we don’t know what we’re looking for until we see it, so feel free to send something our way that we might find to be unexpectedly perfect for our blog and readership.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

ACMI

We commission writing about film, television, video games, moving image art and the internet, including critical analyses and fresh perspectives about specific works and makers, “How to do it” guides by experts to inspire other makers, historical explainers of movements and phenomena, personal responses to moving image works, and interviews with moving image makers. We don’t commission evaluative reviews (like a film or game review with a star rating, etc). The writing should illuminate the work and help the reader to connect with it more deeply.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Overland Literary Journal

Overland accepts pitches on any subject on an ongoing basis, but they are currently looking for articles on: universal basic income, bitcoin, university management, Netflix algorithms, and Goodreads.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

The Lifted Brow

TLB publishes work on its website that fits into two categories: TLB Review of Books or Commentary, and we welcome pitches for both.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Masters Review

Submissions for our New Voices category are open year round. New Voices is open to any new and emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. You must not have a novel forthcoming at the time of submission. Published short-story collections do not count as a novel-length work and those authors are free to submit. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of stories from new authors each month.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Write for Archer

Archer publishes articles and images about sexuality, gender and identity from a diverse range of writers/artists, from all levels of experience.Archer is aimed at all individuals interested in sexuality, gender and equality. Archer promotes inclusivity, regardless of gender identity, geographical location, ethnic identity, sexual orientation or level of education.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Pitch to The Big Issue

Scum Mag

Scum is interested in publishing feminist-friendly work of any variety, but as a general rule your piece should be under 1000 words (50 lines for poetry) and able to be classified as “fiction”, “culture”, “memoir”, “column”, “poetry”, and/or “review”. They tend not to publish traditional reviews of books and films—to get a feel for the reviews they do publish, check the review tag. Feel free to pitch to them if you’re not sure if your piece is a good fit. (Please note that they don’t accept pitches for fiction or poetry.) 

Submissions to Scum are open the first week (from the 1st to the 7th) of every month. The rest of the month, submissions are closed. They pay $60 per piece of writing. 

Seizure - Flashers

Slice Magazine is open for submissions

SLICE magazine welcomes submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We’re looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. At the core, Slice aims to bridge the gap between emerging and established authors by offering a space where both are published side-by-side. In each issue, a specific cultural theme becomes the catalyst for articles, interviews, stories, and poetry from renowned writers and lesser known voices alike. We offer all contributors to Slice a monetary award for their work ($250 for stories and essays and $75 for poems).

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Never miss a freelance writing job or opportunity with Bloc Boost

Have you got something the community should know about? A job vacancy, competition or call for submissions? Upload it to our opportunities page!