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
Writer Development Programme
Literature Wales is proud to launch a programme of FREE virtual talks to inspire and educate the writers of Wales over the coming months. You’ll meet editors, publishers, successful authors and those who work within the literature and publishing industries in Wales and beyond. Browse our programme and register today!
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.
Reinventing the Protagonist – 3 December (12.00pm midday)
In partnership with Disability Arts Cymru, Literature Wales is once more delighted to invite Deaf and/or Disabled and/or Neurodiverse writers based in Wales to apply for a space on our Reinventing the Protagonist Retreat followed by online one-to-one tutorials in the spring-summer 2026. Reinventing the Protagonist retreat: Opportunity for Deaf and/or Disabled and/or Neurodiverse writers to join a residential creative writing course at Tŷ Newydd from 27-29 March 2026 – Literature Wales
Literature Wales’ National Writing Squad – 15 December (5.00pm)
Young writers across Wales are being invited to apply for the prestigious National Writing Squad programme for 2026–2027.
Aimed at 16–18-year-olds, the initiative offers a unique opportunity for emerging talent to develop their writing skills, connect with professional mentors, and become part of a dynamic creative community.
Whether writing in English, Welsh, or bilingually, applicants don’t need formal experience – just a passion for storytelling and a commitment to their craft. National Writing Squad Opens Applications for 2026–2027 – Literature Wales
Work Opportunities
Storyopolis: Creative Facilitator – 17 November
- Start date: January 2026
- Terms: A fixed-term freelance contract comprising 38 days per year during school term, part-time.
- Hours: 10am – 1pm, Saturdays.
- Fee: £25 per hour.
- Location: Storyopolis is based at Volcano Theatre on Swansea’s High Street
Collaborating closely with Project Directors Laura Webb and Tim Batcup, and our Project Coordinator, your role will be to lead on the artistic conveyance of Storyopolis’ broad-ranging programme of literacy-based activities delivered at our Saturday Club. You will have the opportunity to shape the direction of this innovative project so that it continues to benefit Swansea’s most in-need children and young people into the future.
Storyopolis – Creative Facilitator (Saturday Club) | Arts Council of Wales
Storyopolis: Project Coordinator – 17 November
- Start date: January 2026
- Terms: A fixed-term freelance contract comprising 38 days per year, part-time.
- Hours: 10am – 1pm, Saturdays.
- Fee: £33.00 per hour.
- Location: Storyopolis is based at Volcano Theatre on Swansea’s High Street.
Collaborating closely with Project Directors Tim Batcup and Laura Webb, and our Creative Facilitator, your role will be to lead on the administration and coordination of Storyopolis’ broad-ranging programme of literacy-based activities delivered at our Saturday Club. You will have the opportunity to shape the direction of this innovative project so that it continues to benefit Swansea’s most in-need children and young people into the future.
Storyopolis – Creative Facilitator (Saturday Club) | Arts Council of Wales
Creative Lives: Chief Executive – 24 November
Creative Lives is looking for a new Chief Executive
At Creative Lives we champion everyday creativity across the UK and Ireland, ensuring that voluntary groups thrive and are recognised as being essential to community wellbeing.
Our new Chief Executive will be a skilful and diplomatic convenor, collaborator and strategist, an exemplary organisational leader, and a powerful advocate for creativity as a driver of social connection and cohesion.
- £64,752 pa + benefits
- Remote working from anywhere in the UK
Creative Lives is looking for a new Chief Executive | Creative Lives
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/
Glynn Vivian: Freelance Time-Based Media Conservator – 7 November
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is looking for a Time-Based Media Conservator to work on a dedicated access project reviewing our screen-based collection.
The role will require an understanding of individual artworks, their needs for acquisition, production techniques, display requirements, and the risks for long-term preservation.
This position is offered on a fixed-term contract until 30th March 2026. Swansea Council is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all candidates. The fee is £9,450 for a maximum of 27 full day’s work (7.5hrs), to include collection review, artist interviews and documentation, as arranged. New opportunity – Freelance Time-Based Media Conservator
2026 Michael Jacobs Travel Writing Grant – 1 December
Following Michael Jacobs’ passing in 2014, Fundación Gabo and the Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias established the Michael Jacobs Travel Writing Grant. This year, a new edition of the call for applications is open, funded by the Michael Jacobs Foundation for Travel Writing, a non-profit organization founded by Michael’s widow and brother to honor his legacy and promote travel writing in Spain and Latin America. Journalists and writers of any nationality are welcome to apply.
Now in its 12th edition, the grant aims to encourage travel chronicles and will award USD 10,000 for a book project or travel article about Latin America or Spain, to be published in Spanish or English.
https://fundaciongabo.org/es/convocatorias/2026-michael-jacobs-travel-writing-grant
BBC Writers Open Callout – 2 December (12pm)
BBC Writers (previously BBC Writersroom) is a cross-platform department which seeks out and develops new writing talent, with a strong emphasis on diversity and regionality, while also championing more experienced writers.
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.
- Best Welsh poem: – 1st prize £150; 2nd prize a £20 book token.
- Best English poem: – 1st prize £150; 2nd prize a £20 book token.
- Best poem in either language from a contributor resident in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion or Powys: – 1st prize £100; 2nd prize a £10 book token.
The Bill Cashmore Award, presented by Young Lyric, offers a paid opportunity for two new one-act plays by writers aged 18-30, to be professionally produced at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The two winning plays will run as a double bill and will be performed by the Lyric’s SPRINGBOARD trainee actors in Autumn 2026.
To submit, you must:
- Be aged 18-30 at the time of submission and based in the U.K. (incl Northern Ireland)
- Be without professional representation (ie. a literary agent)
- Have no more than 2 professional writing credits
The two successful writers will:
- Receive a fee of £4,000.11 (exclusive of royalties)
- Receive an agreed contribution to your travel for attendance in person if required
- Be creatively involved in shaping the marketing and involved in the rehearsal process
- Receive dramaturgical support
- Receive complimentary invites to tickets to all performances
- Be invited to Lyric Press Nights
Call for Scripts: King’s Shorts Festival of Ten Minute Plays 2026 – 12 January
The seventeenth King’s Shorts Festival of Ten Minute Plays will be presented at King’s Theatre in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada on June 19, 20 and 21, 2026.
For electronic submission(s):
https://www.kingstheatre.ca/about/kings-shorts-info/
$20 submission fee per script using the online “Registration” link
or by calling the Box Office at 902-532-7704
OR
Entries for the Festival may be sent to the address below, and be postmarked no later than January 12, 2026, with a non-refundable $15 entry fee per script.
Participants are encouraged to use electronic submission, keeping in mind that delays with Canada Post may occur:
King’s Shorts Committee, P.O. Box 161,
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, B0S 1A0, Canada.
2025/26 Nature Chronicles Prize – 31 January 2026
The prize is a global, biennial competition originating in the Lake District for essay-length, non-fiction – proudly regional yet international in scope. The winner will receive £10,000 and five runners up £1,000 each. The winning and shortlisted entries will be included in The Nature Chronicles Prize: 3 anthology, published by Saraband.
The competition is open to any work of non-fiction prose between 2,000 and 8,000 words long on a topic the writer considers to be contemporary nature writing. Entries must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online. Essays, standalone extracts from unpublished books, and diaries may all be submitted. The Nature Chronicles Prize | An Award for Nature Writing
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association’s Poetry and Essay Prizes 2025-26 – 2 February 2026 (10am)
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association’s Poetry and Essay Prizes 2025-26 are open. As in previous years there are two competitions. The Keats-Shelley Prize, which is open to all, and the Young Romantics Prize, aimed at anyone aged between 16-18yrs. The Chair of this year’s judging panel is author, critic and journalist Rupert Christiansen.
Poets are asked to write a new work inspired by this year’s prize theme of “Dystopia” or “Utopia”, chosen to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel, The Last Man.
Keats-Shelley essayists are invited to write on any aspect of the work and/or lives of the Romantics and their circles. Young Romantic essayists can respond to one of two questions set by the judges.
Keats-Shelley Prize winners receive £1000. Two highly commended entrants in each category will receive £500. Young Romantics winners receive £700. Two highly commended entrants in each category will receive £300. All finalists’ poems and essays will be published on the Keats-Shelley website and Keats-Shelley poetry and essay prize finalists will also be published in The Keats-Shelley Review. More information and how to enter both prizes: Keats-Shelley Memorial Association
The Tower Poetry Competition – 19 February
The Tower Poetry Competition offers the UK’s most valuable prize for young poets. The competition is free to enter and it is open to students between 16 and 18 years of age who are educated in the UK.
The competition is judged by two guest judges and the Christopher Tower Student, Dr Anna Nickerson. Each year the theme is chosen with the intention of giving entrants free rein to interpret it as widely as they like.
The poet who writes the single best poem on the theme receives £5,000. There will be a second prize of £3,000, and a third prize of £1,500. Along with these, there will be ten runners up, who will each receive £500. The top three winners will also be offered a place on the Tower Poetry Summer School. The 2026 Competition is now open. The theme is ‘A Riddle’.
Enter the Tower Poetry Competition | Christ Church, University of Oxford
Next Generation Story Awards – 26 February 2026
A not-for-profit awards program open to authors writing short stories worldwide is now accepting entries written in English.
Enter by February 26, 2026 to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to have your short story considered for cash prizes, awards, exposure, and recognition as one of the top short stories written this year! Next Generation Short Story Awards – Welcome