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
Deaf Gathering Cymru Freelance Marketing and Content Co-ordinator – 28 July
The Marketing and Content Co-ordinator will work with the Deaf Gathering Cymru (DGC) team (Deaf Gwdihŵ and Chapter) to support the festival to create and deliver dynamic content to tell exciting stories about DGC, its values, audiences and programme. Deaf Gathering Cymru Freelance Marketing and Content Co-ordinator | 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
- Anthology 3 (limited): We’re on the hunt for work that terrifies. This may be a scary story or it could be a piece of writing you are frightened to share with the world. Think your classic ghost tales and haunted houses, but also your intrusive thoughts or diary entries. Deadline: 23 August
- General Submissions (rolling): Full-length manuscripts in any of the following genres or hybrids: Queer Fiction, Horror/Gothic, Mystery/Thriller, Sci-fi, Fantasy, & Creative Non-Fiction.
Link for both: https://hack-publishing.co.uk/submissions/
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
Bending The Arc – 31 July
Bending The Aec is the online magazine for thrutopian writing, is open for submissions for poetry, short fiction, novel extracts, non-fiction and hybrid work with a strong thrutopian element. Thrutopian writing imagines ways through to a world we would be glad to leave to future generations. It tells stories about tangible change and walks us along the challenging path from now to a more hopeful, liveable tomorrow. Full details: https://bendingthearcmagazine.substack.com/p/submissions
Arachne Press Call-out – 1 August
Following the success of A470: Poems for the Road/ Cerddi’r Ffordd, and Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers /Cerddi Afonydd Cymru, we are looking forward to our next entirely bilingual Welsh/English anthology, Home Ground/Y Filltir Sgwâr. We hope to publish this book in Summer 2027.
We are looking for short poems in Welsh or English (or both if you are happy to do your own translation) that can be translated into the other language, and typeset side by side. Full details.
Witty Wicklow Writers Magazine: Issue 1 – 31 August
An international literary magazine edited from County Wicklow, Ireland, and published by Ring of Culture.
We are currently accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, and memoir-style writing from writers in Ireland and abroad. More information.
Competitions
Eisteddfodau Cymru – Ongoing
There are several literary competitions held by various Eisteddfod events across Wales annually.
For further information and closing dates, visit the Cymdeithas Eisteddfodau Cymru website.
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. Our Spotlight language for 2026 is Polish.
The rules are simple: translate into English any poem from any language, or a Polish poem from our Spotlight booklet, and produce an accompanying creative response . . . for your chance to join the Stephen Spender Prize hall of eternal fame! Stephen Spender Prize – Stephen Spender Trust
Polari Prize 2026 – 17 August
The Polari Prize 2026 is now open for submissions. This year there are two awards – for a first book and for a book by an established writer. Writers must be born or based in the UK and books published in the 12 months up to and including Feb 1, 2026.
We’re pleased to welcome five new judges for the 2026 awards, including three members of the trans and non-binary writing community.
This year’s judges are – poet Alice Denny, literary critic Suzi Feay, poet and ‘Bard of Exeter’ Casey Garfield, literary agent David H Headley, writer Rachel Holmes, Gurmit Singh of Lancaster Literature Festival, Katy Jon Went of The Human Library, and Garry Wilson, CEO of easyJet Holidays. More information.
The Sareeta Domingo Prize – 21 September
The Sareeta Domingo Prize is a free-to-enter writing prize created to discover and support unpublished writers from Black and Global Majority backgrounds, founded by bestselling author Dorothy Koomson in association with Sareeta Domingo’s family, Hachette UK, Jacaranda Books and David Higham Associates.
The prize has been created to honour the legacy of Sareeta Domingo, a much-admired editor and author, and a passionate champion of diverse stories and underrepresented voices, who passed away in 2025. Welcome to The Sareeta Domingo Prize | Hachette UK