Content of this newsletter
- WRITING CONTESTS
- WRITING/PUBLISHING TIPS
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
- FREELANCE WRITING
Dear readers, writers, and publishers:
Welcome to the shortest month of the year! A great time to promote your books if you have written anything that fits in the theme of Black History Month, Library Lovers Month, or anything related to Romance - think Valentine's Day. February offers an array of opportunities you can benefit from. For example several invitations for WRITER’s RESIDENCIES.
- WRITING CONTESTS
CAD 100,000 Giller Prize
Open to books published in Canada in English. Books must be published in Canada in English Must be nominated by the publisher.
Full-length novel or collection of short stories published in English, either originally, or in translation. Prize: $100,000 to the winner! $10,000 to each of the finalists. Deadline: February 14
https://scotiabankgillerprize.ca/important-dates/
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Edna Staebler Contest
A $1000 top prize will be awarded for one personal essay. All entries will be considered for publication in The New Quarterly ($250 paid upon publication).
Entry fee: $40 per essay (includes a 1-year Canadian subscription or renewal to The New Quarterly).
Entrants must be Canadian (citizen or resident).
Submissions must be unpublished. Submissions are accepted online only.
Deadline March 28 https://tnq.ca/contact/
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Airlie Prize
Open to all poets writing in English, regardless of place of residence. The winner will be notified at the end of the summer following the submission and will receive a $1,000 cash award upon publication of the book. Manuscripts should be 48 to 90 pages of original poetry in English. Deadline March 31
https://www.airliepress.org/airlie-prize
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Electric Book Award
Book-length manuscripts of literary fiction, short stories, poetry, plays, novels, long novellas, creative nonfiction, literary memoir, essay collections, or hybrid. Winner receives $1,000, the Electric Book Award digital medallion, a certificate, and book publication on Alternating Current Press, which includes distribution through Ingram, Asterism, and all major online retailers.
$18 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 30
https://altcurrentpress.com/submissions/
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- WRITING/PUBLISHING TIPS
Bookshop.org launches new e-book platform that exclusively supports local bookstores
100% of the profits from e-book sales will go back to the indie sellers.
Bookshop.org's new platform – available on its website or on Apple and Android – allows readers to purchase and download e-books from local bookstores or from Bookshop. Once an e-book order has been placed those books are available to read from the user's digital library, either in the app or from the browser.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/28/nx-s1-5260929/e-books-independent-bookstores-bookshop-org
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
Alderworks Alaska Residencies
Alderworks welcomes writers and artists every summer to work in cabins on the edge of the wilderness in historic and stunningly beautiful Dyea near Skagway, Alaska. We host residents in three cabins for 4-6 week summer residencies. Artists also have access to a studio building. Applicants are screened in the winter for the following summer's two residency periods. Deadline February 15
https://alderworksalaska.com/apply/
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Hypathia and Holly House Residencies
Hypatia-in-the-Woods provides and maintains Holly House, a residential retreat center for women of all creative talents, in a serene environment free of the distractions of everyday life. They welcome applications for residencies from women in the arts – broadly defined to include visual, written, and performing arts, as well as other similar forms of creative expression – in entrepreneurship and in academic professions. Location Shelton, WA. Deadline February 15 https://hypatiainthewoods.org/
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Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat
In the country outside of Laceyville, PA, the retreat offers visual artists, writers, and composers, and other musicians a quiet country setting to focus on their creative endeavors. Soaring Gardens has no fees, makes no demands. Deadline February 15 https://www.oralermantrust.com/soaringgardens
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A Studio in the Woods
The Collective Ecosystem Residencies provide artists with time, space, funding, and staff support to foster critical thinking in the creation of new works. Eight project-based residencies include room and board, artist stipends, and supply budget. Residencies will be six weeks in length and take place between September 2025 and May 2026. Deadline February 24
Immel Harding Nelson Center Residencies
Since 2001, KHN has hosted more than 50 working artists each year. Each has found quietness in which to create along with opportunities to interact with fellow residents in the rural hometown of Nebraska City, Nebraska. KHN's facilities house up to five residents at a time, generally in the mix of two visual artists, two writers, and one composer. Residency awards are 2 to 8 weeks in length. Each awardee receives a $175 per week stipend, a private bedroom/bath and individual studio/study, while sharing a kitchen and living space with one other resident. Deadline March 1 https://www.khncenterforthearts.org/
- FREELANCE WRITING
Trails
The focus of Trails is on backpacking and other human/naturally-powered means of sleeping outdoors: bike-packing, canoe camping, even things like rafting or mountaineering are fair game (feel free to be creative with those criteria—we covered “skate-packing” in Issue One). We also primarily focus on North American destinations. We pay our writers a minimum of $0.50/word—that climbs based on the story and your experience. https://trailsmag.net/pages/contributor-information
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The Logic
It is one of Canada’s leading sources of business and technology news. They publish in-depth reporting on the businesses, people and policies that are moving the country forward. Prioritizing is on reporting, but will consider pitches for fact-based essays that engage with a newsworthy idea or issue. They will consider pitches for excerpts from forthcoming books on business and technology. Staff stories range from 350 words to 2,500 words or more. Freelance stories, which don’t tend to be breaking news, range from 700 words to 2,500 words. The usual per-word rate is $1 CAD https://thelogic.co/how-to-pitch/
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My Shelfy
They are interested in a wide range of topics within culture, spanning trends, subcultures, and niche interests across music, fashion, film, technology, literature, and more. The ideal balance is a perspective that is distinctive, but still broadly relatable to a diverse audience. Pays 50 cents/word and up.
https://www.myshelfy.xyz/editorial
What are YOUR writing goals for February? What are your top 5 values and how can you live out those values this month and beyond? Happy Reading and Writing! And don’t forget Book Reviews …
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