Write on Art – 30 June
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
Due to the current situation in Wales regarding the Coronavirus, we suggest that anyone interested in taking part contacts the organisers directly for the most up-to-date information.
Funding Opportunities
RSL Literature Matters Awards – 24 August
The RSL Literature Matters Awards reward and enable literary excellence and innovation. The Awards will be given to individual writers or other literary creators, recognising their past achievements and providing them with financial support to undertake a proposed new piece of writing or literary project. The project must result in new, original writing or other literary activity of an excellent artistic standard, which will reach a substantial readership or audience.
Priority will be given to proposals which (a) will help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or (b) will help generate public discussion about why literature matters. A total of £20,000 is available, which will be split across the selected projects.
Full eligibility criteria and guidelines are available here.
RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction – 14 September
The RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards are open to new writers of non-fiction. Three awards will be presented, of £10,000, £5000, and £2500 to support authors to complete their first commissioned works of non-fiction for a general audience. The books should be due for publication before 1 April 2023.
Full eligibility criteria and guidelines are available here.
The Authors’ Emergency Fund – Rolling
Applications are open to all professional authors who are resident in the UK or British subjects – including all types of writers, illustrators, literary translators, scriptwriters, poets, journalists and others – for whom author-related activities make up a substantial amount of their annual income.
For further information, click here.
The White Pube Writers Grants – Rolling Monthly
The White Pube Writers Grant is £500 given out monthly to a working class writer based in the UK. This grant has been set up to support writers of all ages who are early in their careers and would benefit from this no-strings attached financial support to help them in whatever they like – be that money to cover time to write, books, web hosting, printing, subscriptions, research, development, travel, or even just money to fund life expenses and rent.
For further information, click here.
The Royal Literary Fund – Rolling
To be eligible, you need to have had 2 works published (or scripts/ plays performed) commercially. Whether it’s money or personal problems that are preventing you from writing, our panel will review your case in confidence to see if we can offer financial support.
Further information available here.
Call-outs
Pentabus / Clive Richards Foundation Writer in Residence – 27 June
Pentabus Theatre Company is looking for a professional playwright in the early stages of their career who will become the next Clive Richards Foundation Writer in Residence for 2023. The residency is supported by a £10,000 bursary from the Clive Richards Foundation and will be based in Bromfield, Shropshire. The writer is expected to produce at least one new full-length play during the residency while also taking the chance to learn more about how a professional theatre company works. Applications should include a full-length play, a writer’s CV or biog, and a completed application form and must be received by 9am on Monday 27 June 2022.
More information and details on how to apply are available here.
Gollancz – 30 June
Are you writing a Fantastical Fae Fantasy? Sitting on a Science Fiction Spectacular? What about a Hair-raising Horror? Gollancz want to hear from YOU!
Anyone with a completed story that does not have representation within a literary agency and has not previously been published in the UK can submit work. In addition to this we are actively looking for submissions from writers from underrepresented backgrounds. This includes writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and physical ability. Submissions open from 1 June 2022.
Find out more here.
Beacons: Short Film Funding – 5 July
Ffilm Cymru Wales is offering funding of up to £15,000 for writers, directors and producers to create live action, animation, documentary, or hybrid films of up to 15 minutes in length. Beacons provides funding as well as creative and practical support, training and mentoring opportunities to help filmmakers advance their careers.
Writers can apply as writer-directors or as a team with a director. Teams can also include a producer. The director must have been born in Wales or be based in Wales. Applications should include a script, treatment (for documentaries), or storyboard (for animations), CVs for the creative team members, and a link to at least one previous piece of work from the director, as well as a completed application form.
More information and details on the application process are available here.
Pathways Into Children’s Publishing – 29 July
Pop Up Projects CIC is looking for talented, aspiring illustrators from backgrounds that are under-represented in children’s publishing to join a unique, creative, two-year long professional development programme. The course is open to artists of colour, disabled artists, neurodivergent artists, and artists with UK refugee or asylum-seeker backgrounds, who are aged 21 and up. The tuition fee for successful applicants will be £3000.
Learn more about the course and apply here.
Big Welsh Rhyme Time Commissions 2023 – 16 September
BookTrust Cymru is inviting authors, poets, writers, musicians, performers and children’s storytellers to help create some special new content for Big Welsh Rhyme Time 2023. Three commissions of £600 each are available and the submission deadline for the proposal is 12pm on 16 September 2022. Big Welsh Rhyme Time 2023 will run from 6th–1 February. This year’s key message will be ‘Rhyming fun for everyone’. BookTrust Cymru are looking for different voices from Wales to help create fun and engaging content that will encourage children to share and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs during Big Welsh Rhyme Time and beyond.
Find out more and learn how to submit a proposal here.
Poetry Mentoring Research – September
AHRC-funded research project, ‘Mentoring in the Contemporary UK Poetry Ecology’ seeks to discover more about poetry mentoring practices and how they shape poets, both as people and as practitioners. Led by PhD student, Joanna Nissel, the study also examines how this shaping of poets’ identities goes on to influence the wider poetry ecology. The study aims to contribute to greater transparency around poetry education, enabling poets to find better support.
To make this happen, they need to hear from you. Share your experiences of mentorship: https://forms.gle/GtV2aUUCKJgWmC5e9.
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.
Wasafiri Call for Papers and Essay Prize – Ongoing
Wasafiri is open for submissions of critical articles and essays, reviews, and interviews on the topic of contemporary literature. Information on the submissions process can be found here.
The Wasafiri Essay Prize will be awarded to the best essay of 5000-8000 words by an early career researcher on the topic of international contemporary literature. Entries should be submitted via the Wasafiri submission portal while selecting the option to be considered for the prize. The winner will receive £250, publication of their essay, a mentoring session, and an annual subscription to Wasafiri.
More details about the Wasafiri Essay Prize can be found here.
Competitions
Eisteddfodau Cymru – Ongoing
There are several literary competitions held by various Esieddfod events across Wales annually.
All the closing dates can be found here. For further information, visit the Cymdeithas Eisteddfodau Cymru website.
Write on Art is an annual national writing competition sponsored by Art UK and the Paul Mellon Centre to encourage an interest in art history among young people.
The winning students in each category will receive £500, second-placed students £200 and each of the runners up £100
Discover more here.
V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize – 1 July
Entries are now open for the RSL’s 2022 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. The author of the winning entry will be awarded a prize of £1,000 and have their story published in Prospect online and in the RSL Review. The entry fee is £7.50 per story.
Read the guidelines and submit your entry here.
DAC Creative Word Award – 11 July
The DAC Creative Word award is inviting Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers to explore the theme of ‘Aildanio’ (‘Ignite’ ‘Resume’) through poetry or prose of up to 500 words in total. Work can be in any form including poetry, prose, rap, song lyrics, or haiku. There will be two awards, one for submissions in Welsh Language and one in English Language. The winner in each category will receive £300.
More information and the submission form can be found here.
Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards – 31 July
The Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards celebrate and nurture British writers of colour at the beginnings of their careers. Five winners will receive ten mentoring sessions over the course of 12 months with an RSL Fellow writing in their form, as well as two sessions with Awards Ambassador Bernardine Evaristo.
Full eligibility criteria and guidelines are available here.
Madeleine Milburn Mentorship Programme – 31 July
The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency is running a six-month Mentorship Programme, offering all six spaces to writers from underrepresented backgrounds. This includes, but is not limited to, writers from an ethnic minority background, LGBTQ+ writers, writers who are disabled or neurodiverse, and writers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The programme will include a series of online insight sessions with publishing professionals and authors as well as mentorship from an MM literary agent and personalised editorial feedback on a manuscript. Each mentee will also receive guaranteed representation.
You do not have to have completed your manuscript to apply and they accept applications in a range of genres across fiction and non-fiction. This opportunity is open to writers around the world. Applications close on July 31st at 5:30pm.
Click here to find out more information or apply: https://www.madeleinemilburn.co.uk/mentorship/
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award – 31 August
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is celebrating 15 years of supporting outstanding writers and are looking for the best new Poetry & Short Fiction.
The Award was launched after the publication of Aesthetica Magazine, as a way to support the next generation of literary talent. Including both established and emerging practitioners to submit pieces on any theme, celebrating innovative poetry and short fiction. These were published in the Creative Works Annual. This publication was an anthology of new writing and new artwork, but as the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and the Art Prize started to reach more audiences, the decision was made in 2013 to separate them into two Awards with their own prizes and publications.
Find the full details here.
Planet New Writers’ Competition – 1 September
The Planet New Writers’ Competition is open to writers and journalists of all ages as long as they have never published a book. Writers who have been published online, in magazines, or in anthologies are welcome to enter – as well as those who are unpublished. Articles of 1500-2000 words should be submitted anonymously as an email attachment to planetcompetition2021@gmail.com with a covering email giving your full name and contact details. The winning essay will be published in the November 2022 issue of Planet and the winner will receive £200, a year’s subscription to planet, and a range of 6 books published by Planet.
Find out more here.
The Red River Script Competition – 30 September
The Cuddy Family Foundation is looking for original screenplays with stories that involve poignancy, sentimentality, compassion, and/or diversity and inclusion. Special consideration will be given to entries with elements involving veteran-related issues (PTSD, suicide prevention, treatment and recovery). The winning entry will be made into a short film and the winner will receive $1000. Screenplays should be 20 pages (or less) and suited to a 15-20 minute short film. The Entry Fee is $20 before 30 August of $45 before 30 September.
Find out more about this opportunity here.