Last updated on July 2, 2019
There are some great upcoming opportunities, some with deadlines fast approaching, and some less important updates to Literary Portland itself.
As usual check other resources listed under Create and Organize for fuller lists provided by other organizations (such as art open calls, Creative Capital’s posts on Residencies and other opportunities, Alliance of Artists Communities, TransArtists, NewPages, and Duotrope). If you know of others we haven’t listed here please let us know via email or use the contact form here.
Journals / Zines
- Dovesong Labs presents The Bertha Vervain Series: Zines & Broadsides by Black [Womxn & Queer] Folks (Today!! July 1st!!) – This zine and broadside contest considers work by a black woman or queer writer (18+) for zine or broadside publication. Submissions should be 1 zine (up to 10 pages) or 3 poems for broadsides. Poetry or hybrid, and previously published work accepted. Winners receive 50 copies of zine or broadside, high quality digital or print copies, and cash prize ($100 for zine / $75 for broadside). 1 – 2 zines and 2 – 3 broadsides will be selected. See the website for more details.
- The Gravity of the Thing (July 31st) – Accepting defamiliarized works of fiction, nonfiction, flash, poetry, six words, and essay for their Baring the Device column. Short prose should be 3,000 words or less. Flash under 500 words. Poetry: up to 3 poems, no more than 500 words combined. Up to five six word stories will be considered at a time. Only one submission per reading period. Simultaneous submissions welcome. No previously published works will be considered. See the website for more details and guidelines.
- Deep Overstock (August 1st) – Booksellers are encouraged to send works fitting the theme of Westerns. They pretty much publish just about any type of genre or form. Simultaneous submissions welcome, but no previously published works will be considered. Submissions over 3,000 words may not be considered. One to two fiction pieces only for each theme, or, if sending shorter works under 1,000 words each then up to three. Up to 7 poems per theme. Up to 4 – 12 images for art. See website for more details.
- Windfall (August 1st) – Windfall looks for poems of place, especially those related to the PNW. Up to 5 short poems, not exceeding 50 lines each. No previously published works considered. They do not mention simultaneous submissions on their guidelines page, so, please reach out to confirm. See website for a detailed description of the kind of poetry they’re looking for.
- Bitch Magazine (August 2nd) – Bitch Magazine is looking for dispatches (1,200 words), investigative essays (2,500 words), cultural features (2,200 words), and other feature pieces for an upcoming issue on “sanctuary.” More on the theme: “This issue calls for out-of-the-box explorations of what it means to seek peace and find it: How do traditional and chosen families shape our understanding of love? What role can social media play in helping us shape our mental health? How do we locate places in which we can escape, disconnect, and simply be ourselves? How does pop culture help us grapple with inevitable grief? What happens when our sanctuaries no longer feel like they belong to us—or are actively taken away?” See the website for more details on submission guidelines.
- Shirley Magazine (August 15th) – Accepting short stories of 3,000 words max and flash pieces up to 1,000 words for their 14th issue, Shirley Magazine looks for “prose first, plot second, but we need both. Give us a slice of the sublimely strange. We want the eerie, the weird, the beautiful. We’re interested in the body and its grotesqueries, the brain and its tricks. We want stories that don’t clearly belong to any one genre, stories that will get our hands dirty, stories that expose the worms crawling under the rock.” Simultaneous submissions welcome, but no previously published works. Women, nonbinary, and writers of color are especially encouraged to submit work. Shirley Magazine‘s next reading period (after this one ending in August) will not accept work by cis men (see this Instagram post for more).
- The Masters Review Short Story Award for New Writers (July 1st – Aug 31st) – Judged by Tope Folarin (A Particular Kind of Black Man) this contest gives winners and honorable mentions agency review, publication, and cash awards. Winning stories are given $3,000, second place $300, and third $200. Emerging writers only. $20 entry fee. Stories should be under 6,000 words. Simultaneous submissions allowed, but no previously published work. International submissions and translations welcomed (see details for caveats). Additional information can be found here as well.
- Portland Review (September 2nd & 3rd) – Portland Review is accepting submissions for two opportunities, the first being a themed anthology on LABOR (Sept 2nd), and the second is for the Verna Marion Nugent Chapbook Contest (Sept 3rd). The anthology will accept theme fitting works in genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and mixed-genre. No current students of PSU’s CW program will be considered. Simultaneous submissions seem OK, just indicate in submission. Submitted work will also be considered for upcoming print issues and website publication. Published contributors receive $30 and a copy of the issue. The Chapbook Contest welcomes fiction and nonfiction fitting the theme of Invisible Labor. Winners receive $500 and publication as a chapbook included within the Labor anthology issue. No simultaneous submissions considered, including for the anthology. Work should be between 15 – 25 pages. Emerging writers only. See site for more details.
- Beacon (??) – Beacon opens submissions based on their publishing cycle and appear to currently be open for submissions to all issues in Volume III: No. 09 Tan Lines, No. 10 Four Eyes, No. 11 Big Mouth, and No. 12 Air Head. They appear to mostly be looking for images, though they publish a variety of creative content. See the link above or here for more.
- Pathos (??) – Students of PSU can submit work for the Fall 2019 issue. No exact deadline is given. Up to 3 pieces can be submitted per period. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but no previously published work. Poetry submissions should not exceed 50 lines. Prose should not exceed 3,000 words. Reviews of works are now accepted as well. See website for more details on submissions.
Grants
- Potlatch Fund (July 9th – August 15th) – Funding opportunity of up to $10,000 for work that “strengthen Native art forms, practices, and knowledge that develop a stronger sense of identity and livability of the community. Projects or practices should utilize the cultural richness within a community. This grant supports artists and arts organizations in the pursuit of building, enhancing, or expanding their artistic practice and/or community.” See the website for additional details and qualifying requirements.
Fellowships
- Oregon Literary Fellowships (August 2nd) – Offering a variety of awards for work in the genres of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, young readers, drama, and publishing. Eleven fellowships carry the award of $3,500, while two will be for $10,000. Must be a current, full-time resident of Oregon. Poetry: 15 typed pages of poetry, one poem per page. Prose: No more than 25 pages double-spaced. Drama: No more than 25 pages. Synopsis pages are allowed but count towards page count. See website for additional details. Literary Arts also hosts free info-sessions with in-person assistance for applications, see our calendar or theirs for dates. Upcoming sessions: July 2nd (10 am – 12 pm) and July 25th (12 pm – 5 pm).
Residencies
- PLAYA Residency (July 1st – August 15th) – Application window opening (supposedly? though it’s not “open” yet on the website) July 1st and closing on August 15th for the Jan – June 2020 residency period. Two-week, three-week, and four-week sessions available. Each beginning on a Monday and ending on a Friday. Open to a wide range of disciplinary practitioners, from the sciences to creative arts. Residents must be comfortable living in a remote setting. $35 non-refundable application fee, $150 security deposit. For writing applications: 10 pages of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, 10 – 15 pages for play writing or screenplays, and a cover letter. See website for more details and tips for applying.
Literary Portland Updates
We’ve been doing various little updates to the website along with the usual updating of the calendar. A lot of these may go unnoticed, such as adding local publishers or bookshops as we discover them, so, as we go forward we’ll keep track of new additions and using the blog space to highlight them.
We’re also attempting to improve website accessibility and functionality. Recently we just added another way to easily filter the calendar by category, which you can find below the default month view of the calendar on the front page. Clicking a category label there will give you a view of the calendar with only events in that category.
Deadlines are something we’ve recently added to the calendar as well. With a few to start with, and more, like those listed above, to be added when we can. This shifts the calendar’s focus a bit from being exclusively for events, but we don’t want to over-saturate the calendar with a lot of information either, so, deadlines may be where we stop for now. If you like the addition of deadlines, or hate it, let us know, as we want to make the calendar as useful as possible and are open to feedback.
Another thing you may notice is that we’ve added quick category links to some of the other pages. Hopefully this will help you find listings faster and easier than scrolling around.
Moving forward we may make some changes to the front page as well. This might involve shifting the calendar to its own separate page, putting some quick-access icons on the front page, and highlighting more of the various resources available on the site. Again, we’re always happy to receive feedback on changes or suggestions, so, feel free to let us know any thoughts!