Opportunities
Welcome to Literature Wales’ opportunities page where we share internal and external literary opportunities, from competitions to residencies, from Wales and beyond. If you have any opportunities you’d like us to feature, please email us on: post@literaturewales.org
Literature Wales Opportunities
Tŷ Newydd Creative Writing Courses
We have a range of creative writing courses and retreats available at Tŷ Newydd – the National Writing Centre of Wales. Why not have a look and discover what’s on offer.
Work Opportunities
Theatr Iolo: Marketing and Communications Manager – 20 March
Theatr Iolo’s vision is for a society in which all children can feel empowered and inspired. We are looking for a Marketing & Communications Manager to be responsible for devising and implementing all marketing, audience development and engagement strategies and campaigns for all aspects of the company’s work to deepen engagement and diversify our audience. Marketing & Communications Manager | Arts Council of Wales
The Royal Cambrian Academy: Art Gallery Manager – 3 April
This post will ensure the gallery is a financially viable and vibrant space that promotes education, health and well being opportunities for the community through art. The role supports the Royal Cambrian Academy in promoting the work of artists in Wales through presenting quality art, mounting contemporary and historical exhibitions.
The postholder will report to the RCA Council and be supported by them, as well as an active group of gallery volunteers. RCA Conwy | We are hiring
Call-outs
Black Bee Call for Submissions – Rolling
Black Bee Books is currently open for submissions from under-represented voices in Wales. As a new publishing house based in West Wales, the company want to be reflective of a wide variety of experiences and are actively seeking those who are under-served by the industry.
They are looking to publish both adult and young adult fiction and non-fiction, but not children’s books.
For submission guidelines please see: www.blackbeebooks.wales/contact
Hack Publishing – Rolling
Hack Publishing are looking for 10 writers to join us an exciting project that will explore work now and imagine working culture in the future. This will be a collection of essays with 10 different perspectives, although writers are encouraged to experiment with genre.
In addition, they are also looking for writers to contribute to their upcoming magazine. The first issue’s theme is: resilience. Writers can submit any genre of up to 3,500 words. It is a chance for new writers to see their work published alongside one another.
Find the full details on their website.
Folding Rock – Rolling
Folding Rock is always on the hunt for the best new creative fiction and non-fiction in, from and connected to Wales. We accept work by writers at any stage and age, and we pay for every piece we publish. Submissions are always open but specific themed call-outs for each issue will be made three times a year. We also take pitches for translations, visual essays and multi-media work – check out our website for more details: https://foldingrock.com/submit-your-work/
If you’re an author or publisher with a book out that’s connected to Wales, tell us about it here: https://foldingrock.com/tell-us-about-a-book/
New Croton Review – Rolling
While the New Croton Review seeks poetry, fiction and non-fiction in English, we welcome the submission of translations of work written in other languages (as long as, if the author of the translated work is still entitled to copyright, the author has given permission for the translation). Those who submit English translation of their own work in Welsh may also submit the original Welsh version and should indicate whether they prefer that, if the translation is accepted for publication, the original version be included.
There are no geographical or age limitations. Click here to read the submission guidelines on our website. If your work is accepted, we’ll ask you to grant us the right to publish it, but you retain the copyright and the right to publish it elsewhere.
Broken Sleep Books – various closing dates
Broken Sleep Books are a working-class, small, innovative press, who publish a range of poetry and prose, from a range of writers. Our primary focus is in increasing access to the arts, in ensuring more people are able to engage with creativity regardless of their socioeconomic status. ABOUT US & SUBMISSIONS | Broken Sleep Books
Exisle Publishing: Experts Unleashed Pitching Challenge – 30 March
Exisle Publishing is a globally known, traditional self-help publisher, newly empowered by our partnership with Simon & Schuster.
This pitching challenge may be for you if:
- You are a recognized expert in your field with a proven ability to communicate your ideas. You don’t have to be a social media star, but even a small following shows that your ideas have resonance in the community.
- Your manuscript is complete or almost complete, written a simple style, acknowledging that ‘less is more,’ you’ve sacrificed some anecdotes and background to drill into the essence of what you want to communicate.
- Your audience is well defined, specific, and reachable. They need your book and have been patiently waiting for it, perhaps for years, as nothing else gives them what you have written. So let’s not keep them waiting.
More information: Experts Unleashed Pitching Challenge – Exisle Publishing
(un)common magazine – 31 March
We welcome submissions in English and Welsh from writers who are historically under-represented in the publishing industry because of race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, disability, class, caring responsibilities, or socio-economic status.
We only accept submissions from writers who have not had a full-length work published under their own name. If, however, you have had stories, poems or articles published in anthologies or in magazines you are welcome to submit a new piece of work to us. We are not a paying market, although we hope to be in the future.
Our first issue will be on the theme of social class, whether that be our own class system in the UK or a speculative fiction take on what social class might look like in the future. We would particularly like to read intersectional writing on class, and works of, or incorporating, dialect.
Short stories and non-fiction from 1,000 to 3,000 words. Up to three pieces of flash fiction from 300 to 1,000 words. Up to three poems with a maximum of 40 lines (including spacing). Submit – (un)common magazine
Hay Festival: a chance to showcase your work – 10 April
Hay Festival has announced the return of The Platform, an open call for creatives aged 21–28 to showcase their work at the flagship event in Wales, 21–31 May 2026.
Open to a range of art forms – performance (theatre, dance, street), poetry, digital art, film, audio, visual art and literature – it aims to offer new routes into the arts.
Successful artists will have the chance to share their work with Festival audiences on Friday 29 May around the Festival site, plus meet and network with established artists over a three-day visit. All Festival expenses will be paid (travel, accommodation and meals for two nights) and each artist will receive an event fee of £350 for their work. Show your work at Hay Festival 2026 | Arts Council of Wales
Competitions
Eisteddfodau Cymru – Ongoing
There are several literary competitions held by various Eisteddfod events across Wales annually.
All the closing dates can be found here. For further information, visit the Cymdeithas Eisteddfodau Cymru website.
BBC Young Writers’ Award 2026 – 23 March
The BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University gives people in the UK aged between 14 -18 years the opportunity to submit short stories of up to 1,000 words.
There are amazing prizes and opportunities to be won. The five shortlisted writers will:
- have their story printed in an anthology
- have their story recorded by a professional actor, and available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
- receive experience days at Cambridge University and at BBC Broadcasting House including workshops with published authors.
- attend the award ceremony at the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London, where the overall winner of the 2026 BBC Young Writers Award and the 2026 BBC National Short Story Award will be announced live on Radio 4
- the winner of the 2026 BBC Young Writers’ Award will also receive one-to-one writing support from one of the judges and have the chance to pitch a short story idea to a BBC radio producer.
You can find out more information on the YWA Website www.bbc.co.uk/ywa and find lots of great tips and hints here www.bbc.co.uk/teach/articles/z8phm39
Royal Mint Museum Short Story Competition – 17 April
The Royal Mint Museum are passionate about increasing accessibility to our collection, promoting literacy and supporting community and they run a short story competition every year for 7- to 11-year-old children in the UK. Their next competition is opening soon and stories can be submitted between 16 February – 17 April 2026.
The first-place winner will receive a gold coin, £5,000 for their school or local library, and their story illustrated by an artist, and there are more prizes to be won! You can view all the latest information here: https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/learning/short-story-competition/
The Children’s Publishing Academy: Children’s Book Pitching Competition: ‘Your Marvellous Mind’ – 30 April
The Children’s Publishing Academy’s 2026 pitching competition is open now! With judges from multi-award-winning publisher EK Books as well as successful children’s authors, this competition invites children’s authors and aspiring children’s book authors to write a concise pitch that makes publishers pay attention. Children’s Book Pitching Competition – Children’s Publishing Academy
Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation: New Voices Award – 30 April
A mentoring programme for unpublished writers. Each year we select five aspiring authors to receive one-to-one mentoring and editorial guidance as they develop their adventure novel from an early idea into a completed first draft. The programme also includes feedback from publishers and advice from a literary agent, offering writers a rare opportunity to develop their work with industry support. Fee waivers are available for those who need them. New Voices Award | Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation
Bridport Prize – 31 May
The Bridport Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world, so you’re in good company. Whether you’re writing poetry, a short story, flash fiction, novel or a memoir, we can’t wait to read your words. Home – Bridport Prize
Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize – 30 June
The seventeenth edition of the prize is now open for original entries and entries in translation across Fiction, Life Writing, and Poetry.
Representing more of the globe than any other prize of its kind, the prize supports writers who have not published book-length works, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The winners of each category will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication in Wasafiri. All winners and shortlisted writers will be offered the Chapter and Verse or Free Reads mentoring scheme in partnership with The Literary Consultancy (dependent on eligibility), and a one-year print subscription to Wasafiri.