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
Work Opportunities
The Aloud Charity: Development Manager (Maternity Cover) – 7 May
The Aloud Charity is looking for a Development Manager (Maternity Leave) to implement and deliver its fundraising and communications strategies. The Development Manager is responsible for establishing and maintaining income streams from a wide range of sources including Trusts and Foundations, Individual Giving, and Corporate Sponsorship. This includes ensuring that the communication with funders, stakeholders and potential stakeholders is of the highest quality and is appropriate in regularity, tone and content. Development Manager (Maternity Leave) | Arts Council of Wales
Poetry Wales: Freelabce Reviews Editor – 7 May
Poetry Wales is looking for their next Freelance Reviews Editor. Poetry Wales is a tri-annual journal publishing contemporary poetry by some of the most exciting names in poetry from around the world. We are currently recruiting for a Reviews Editor on a freelance contract to join us in our 60th year of publication. The Reviews Editor will contribute to our journey over the next three years as we continue to grow and change as a journal dedicated to making poetry accessible and spotlighting Welsh writers.
Fee: £350 per issue. Term: Three years from 1 August 2025. No. Hours: A total of no more than 17 hours (2 x full working days) per issue, to be spread out across the four month production time between issues. Work With Us | Reviews Editor – Poetry Wales
Artes Mundi: Assistant Curators – 16 May
We are seeking to appoint two Assistant Curators.
The Assistant Curators will work with the Artes Mundi team to plan and deliver the forthcoming biennial exhibition, AM11. Specifically, they will assist the Director in all aspects of the programme delivery, in particular exhibition coordination and preparation, installation planning, monitoring budgets and contribute to events and public programming initiatives. Assistant Curators | Arts Council of Wales
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 publishes a small selection of literary criticism in each print issue, as well as online book reviews and regular round-ups of new releases. We are interested in English-language fiction and non-fiction, published by Welsh or Wales-based authors and/or publishers, as well as those with a Welsh theme, setting or connection. If you’re a publisher, publicist or author and would like to flag a book you think we should know about, you can do so via the form here: Tell Us About a Book – Folding Rock: New Writing from Wales and Beyond
The Genesis JLF Emerging Writers Programme – 30 June
The Genesis JLF Emerging Writers Programme is open to emerging writers in Poetry, Fiction and Non-fiction, and offers bursaries, one-on-one mentoring, peer support, workshops and industry meetings. Mentors for the year include Thomas Harding, author of Hans and Rudolf, and multiple slam-winner and creative producer of The Nest, Adam Kammerling.
The programme is open to emerging writers of any background, over 18 years of age and living in the UK with no more than three years’ experience of being published, who feel they would benefit from the support and insight of a more established writer, peer support sessions and opportunities to meet with industry professionals.
Applicants should be working, or planning to work, on a specific project, with the aim of publication, and should be committed to participating fully in all sessions offered by the programme.
The programme offers the following benefits:
- One-on-one mentorship with an established writing mentor
- A bursary of up to £1,500 to support the completion of research, residential writing time, childcare or other costs related to completing the writing project
- Scheduled peer support sessions
- Group seminars run by writing experts
- Meetings with agents, publishers and other industry professionals
- A speaking opportunity at Jewish Book Week 2026, held at Kings Place, London
The Programme runs from 1 September 2025 to 31 July 2026. Grants will be made to successful applications on receipt of bank details. The programme of mentorship is designed to take place online and/or in person, depending on the preference of the selected writer and their mentor. Group sessions are designed to take place online so that the programme is accessible to all.
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.
Wirral Poetry Festival Open Poetry Competition 2025 – 30 May
Poems on any subject, of not more than 40 lines, in English. Open prizes adjudicated by Helen Ivory and Martin Figura; Wirral Prizes by Pauline Rowe.
Open prizes:1st prize £250, 4 £25 runner-up prizes. Wirral prizes (for entrants living/working in Wirral): 1st Prize £100, 2 £25 runner-up prizes. Entry: £4 per poem / £10 for 3 poems. Full details and online entry at www.wirralpoetryfestival.org.uk .
Winners to be notified by 11 July 2025 and invited to a competition celebration during the Wirral Poetry Festival in October. Competition results posted online on 18 July 2025.
Never Too Late 60+ award – 31 May
This £500 award is for the highest placed writer aged 60+ across poetry, short story, novel or flash fiction.
The Never Too Late Award unlocks the hidden talent of older writers. Writers in later life often struggle to be seen despite a wealth of experience, creativity and stories to tell.
Championed by best selling author Kit de Waal (aged 64) and London Literary Agent, AM Heath (in business for over a century), this award aims to recognise success over sixty and a ‘never give up’ resilience that is the mainstay of writers. The winner will receive a Zoom session with Mary-Anne Harrington from Tinder Press (part of Hachette) about the publishing industry and two signed copies of Kit de Waal’s books.
Never Too Late 60+ award – Bridport Prize
The 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize - 30 June
The 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize which is now open for entries, and this is a very special year for Wasafiri as we open the prize to entries in translation for the first time in its fifteen year history.
The prize supports writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The winners of each category (Fiction, Life Writing and Poetry) will receive a £1,000 cash prize and will be published in Wasafiri’s print magazine. The deadline for entries is 11.59pm BST on 30 June. Full details, including how to apply, can be found here.
Wells Festival of Literature – 30 June
This year’s winners stand to walk away with some £5,000 between them! There are four categories, Open Poetry, Short Stories, A Book for Children and Young Poets aged 16 -22 and all the information can be found on the website: Competitions | Wells Festival of Literature
The Stephen Spender Prize – 31 July
The Stephen Spender Prize is an annual competition for poetry in translation that celebrates the creativity of young people across the UK and Ireland – and their teachers! The Prize has categories for schools, teachers and individual young people, which welcome translations from all languages, as well as a special ‘Spotlight‘ strand that each year focuses on a different widely spoken language.
For 2025, the rules are simple: translate into English any poem from any language, or a Portuguese poem from the Spotlight booklet, and produce an accompanying creative response . . . for your chance to join the Stephen Spender Prize hall of eternal fame!
Teachers can now register here to involve their students, and more guidance can be found on our Guide for Teachers page. All those who register will receive regular resources to help them to integrate creative translation into their teaching. Stephen Spender Prize – Stephen Spender Trust
Amazon’s £20,000 Kindle Storyteller Award – 31 August
Entries for Amazon’s Kindle Storyteller Award are open now for 2025. Self-published authors both new and established in any genre can win a £20,000 prize fund.
The Kindle Storyteller Award is a literary award celebrating the best of self-published storytelling, championing independent writers across any genre, both new and established, with the winner receiving a £20,000 prize fund.
Previous winners have included Stateside by JD Kirk and King Of War by Peter Gibbons. Since winning the award in 2024, JD Kirk has gone on to write his first psychological thriller, which is due to be released later this year.
The competition is open to authors aged 18 or over writing in English in any genre, who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing between 1st May and 31st August. How to enter Amazon’s Kindle Storyteller Award
Next Generation Story Awards – February 26 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