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Opportunities for writers
There are lots of opportunities for writers in Scotland. We've collected and listed the current crop below.
For more opportunities (including workshops, retreats and advice), you might also want to look into our resources for writers, and our writing programmes; the New Writers Award, Ignite Fellowship and the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. If you're under 18, why not check out our offering for Young Writers.
Please note that we curate this list but don't run the opportunities listed. You can find free guidance on copyright and other issues on the Society of Authors' (this will open in a new window)advice page.
Always read the organiser's submission criteria.
Want to share an opportunity with us? Email andrew.blair@scottishbooktrust.com (this will open in a new window)
No Deadline
Primo Poetica
Looking for football poetry that will strike a chord across Europe due to the delayed Euro 2020 tournament.
Entry fee: None
Scottish Women's National Team Poets Society
Julie McNeill – the First Makar of the Scottish Women's National Team Poets Society - is looking for poetry inspired by the national women's team.
Entry fee: None
Loud Coffee Press
page one mentoring scheme - Johnson & Alcock
The Johnson & Alcock Agency are offering an online mentoring programme to underrepresented writers (including - but not limited to - Black, Asian, and minority ethnic candidates, those living outside of London and the South East, people with disabilities, and those from low-income families), with the aim of demistifying their industry.
Kalopsia Literary Journal
Looking for poetry, prose and visual art. Feedback will be offered where possible.
Entry fee: None
Bella Caledonia
The Bella Caledonia website is welcoming poetry submissions. Email your poems to bellasletters@yahoo.co.uk
Tether's End Magazine
Tether's End are looking for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography and art for their first issue.
Entry fee: None
October
The Nan Shepherd Prize
Nature writing competition for writers looking to be published.
Deadline: Wednesday 06 October
Entry fee: None
Middleground Magazine
Looking for non-fiction, fiction, poems and visual art from mixed race people.
Deadline: Friday 10 October
Entry fee: None
Bold Types - Scottish Women's Creative Writing Competition
Send in fiction and/or poetry of up to 1000 words. Open to women (inclusive of Trans and Intersex women, as well as non-binary and gender fluid people) born in Scotland or who live/have lived in Scotland.
Deadline: 5pm, Thursday 14 October
Entry fee: None
Lighthouse
Lighthouse are looking for poetry and art submissions.
Deadline: Sunday 10 October
Entry fee: None
Lavender Bones Magazine
Looking for poetry, fiction, non-fiction and artwork for their first issue.
Deadline: Wednesday 20 October
Entry fee: None
The Book Edit's Writers' Prize
Looking for unpublished writers to send in the first 1,000 words of their novel. Winners will be able to read their work to agents and be published in an online anthology.
Deadline: Friday 22 October
Entry fee: None
New Writing Scotland 40
Submissions are open for the latest edition of New Writing Scotland. Send up to four poems or one prose piece, maximum length 3500 words.
Deadline: Sunday 31 October
Entry fee: None
Peninsula Press
Peninsula Press are looking for completed manuscripts from agented and un-agented authors.
Deadline: Sunday 31 October
Entry fee: None
Beyond the Veil
Ghost Orchid Press are looking for queer tales of supernatural love for a new anthology.
Deadline: Sunday 31 October
Entry fee: None
404 Ink: Inklings
404 Ink are looking for pitches for their short, non-fiction 'Inklings' book series.
Deadline: Sunday 31 October
Entry fee: None
The Barbellion Prize
A prize for authors with long-term chronic illness or disability. whose work 'has best represented the experience of chronic illness and/or disability'. Books published between November 2020 and October 2011 are eligible for entry.
Deadline: Sunday 31 October
Entry fee: None
November
The Janet Coats Memorial Prize
Looking for poems of up to 40 lines on the theme 'Scotland's stories'. Open to anyone over 18 who was born in Scotland, has lived in Scotland, or currently lives in Scotland.
Deadline: Sunday 14 November
Entry fee: None
BlueHouse Journal
Looking for poems, essays, visual art, and prose that deals with the larger theme of 'Stone'.
Deadline: Monday 15 November
Entry fee: None
Broken Sleep Books
Open submission period for poetry pamphlets.
Deadline: Tuesday 30 November
Entry fee: None
No Parties
No Parties is a new publication looking for submissions for its second and third issues. Please send in essays and/or fiction.
Deadline: Tuesday 30 November
Entry fee: None
December
Hotazel Review
Looking for poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction.
Deadline: Wednesday 15 December
Entry fee: None
Interstellar Flight Press - Science Fiction Short Story Collections
Looking for short story collections of speculative fiction. Please send in full manuscripts.
Deadline: Friday 31 December
Entry fee: None
Baba Yaga Anthology
Black Spot Books are looking for stories inspired by and featuring the Baba Yaga for a women-in-horror anthology - all writers who identify as women are welcome to submit.
Deadline: Friday 31 December
Entry fee: None
Ongoing Opportunities
Awards
The John Byrne award
The John Byrne Award is an online exhibition and competition exploring personal and societal values, open to anyone over 16 years old in Scotland. Creative writing and illustration welcomed. An award of £500 is offered quarterly, plus an annual award of £7,500. All entries are eligible for all prizes and all entries will be considered for posting on the John Byrne Award website and social media pages.
Entry fee: Free
The Zooker award
A new literary award that aims to encourage disadvantaged authors and reward works of social value. Single prize of £500, plus embossed certificate and featuring. Open to anyone who has published a book through Arkbound or any other publisher.
Entries can be made between 19th May and 10th October each year.
Entry Fee: £7.50 (concessions available)
Luna Press Publishing
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy publisher who accept submissions on specific days each year.
Speculative Scotland (all writers born in Scotland): 25 January, 30 November Speculative Scottish Diversity (writers who identify as BAME (Black, Asian, minority ethnic), mixed-race or POC (people of colour) with a connection to Scotland either by birth or residency): 18 July, 02 October Speculative Novella: (all writers): 15 April
Entry Fee: None
Invisible Cities
Looking for previously unpublished poetry and prose.
Reading periods: 15 September–15 December
Entry fee: None
Call for Submissions
Speculative Books
Speculative Books is currently accepting unsolicited submissions of poetry. Send in a maximum of two poems.
Entry fee: None
The Dark Horse
The Dark Horse Magazine is accepting unsolicited submissions of poetry by post only.
Entry fee: None
Glasgow Review of Books
Lallans
Lallans is published twice a year and is the journal of the Scots Language Society. It includes poetry, fiction, reviews and articles in Scots.
Entry fee: None
The New Shetlander
The New Shetlander is a bi-annual publication looking for contributions of prose and poetry with a Shetland interest: all will be considered for publication.
Entry fee: None
Product Magazine
Product Magazine is currently looking for fiction, art and photography.
Entry fee: None
Shoreline of Infinity
Shoreline of Infinity is looking for science-fiction poetry and book reviewers.
Entry fee: None
Thi Wurd
Thi Wurd is a fiction magazine based in Glasgow. Submissions of short fiction and illustrations are welcome.
Entry fee: None