Looking for more in Writing and Authors?
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 and Ignite 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 eilidh.akilade@scottishbooktrust.com(this will open in a new window).
No Deadline
Primo Poetica
Looking for football poetry that will strike a chord across Europe.
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
Find out more about Scottish Women's National Team Poets Society
Loud Coffee Press
Currently open to flash fiction, poetry and art submissions.
Entry fee: None
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 demystifying 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
Hysteria Collective
Looking for any creative writing (poetry, short stories, memoirs, chapters, screenplays etc.) from women, trans, and non-binary writers.
Entry fee: None
Creatives - Scottish Mountaineering Press
Looking for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual arts inspired by the Scottish landscape.
Entry fee: None
Find out more about Creatives - Scottish Mountaineering Press
Kelso Writers: Creative Writing for Well-being
Kelso Writers is offering an opportunity for people over the age of 16 who live in the Scottish Borders. As a result of funding from the Communities Mental Health and Well-being Fund, Kelso Writers is able to offer a series of twelve free online workshops and two in-person workshops designed to help people develop and improve their creative writing skills. The course will look at all kinds of writing including short stories, poetry, flash fiction and life writing. Topics covered will include the writing process; creating characters; use of dialogue; how to structure and plot a story; nature writing; and editing and presentation. To register interest and find out more please email kelsowriters@gmail.com
Entry fee: None
Find out more about Kelso Writers: Creative Writing for Well-being
Pugmill Press
Pugmill Press is currently open for submissions of unsolicited ideas from authors. They are currently open for submissions of proposals for concise non-fiction works between 35,000-45,000 words only.
Entry fee: None
Interpret Magazine
Interpret are open to any genre or form of poem or short story. More details at the link below.
Entry fee: None
Leopard Arts
Looking for poetry, prose, non-fiction, visual arts and music from the North East of Scotland.
Entry fee: None
March
Cymera Festival Short Story Competition
Looking for speculative fiction short stories from anyone living in Scotland or Scottish by birth or inclination, aged at least 14 years.
Entry fee: None
Deadline : 6pm Sunday 26 March
Anne Brown Essay Prize
Looking for essays on any subject of up to 4000 words. Open to anyone "over 16 and resident in Scotland, born in Scotland or have a longstanding association with Scotland".
Entry fee: None
Deadline : Friday 31 March
Picture Book Open Day 2023
Hachette Children's Group are hosting their third virtual open day to discover writers and illustrators from Scotland, Ireland, and the North of England.
30 writers & illustrators will be selected for appointments based on the strength of their submission and meeting the criteria.
Deadline for submissions: Thursday 30 March
Open day: Thursday 8 June
April
Verve Poetry Press
Open for submissions of full poetry collections. Include a one page description of your poetry background & your hopes for the book.
Deadline: Sunday 30 April
Entry fee: None
SPAM Press: Brilliant Vibrating Interface
For the culmination of SPAM’s year-long project Brilliant Vibrating Interface: Queering the Post-internet through Poetics & Practice, kindly funded by the Edwin Morgan Second Life Awards, SPAM is calling for submissions of unpublished work by queer practitioners working with text with a connection to Scotland. Looking for poetry, hybrid and New Media writing.
Entry Fee: None
Deadline: Saturday 22 April
Find out more about the Briliant Vibrating Interface anthology
May
Mo Siewcharran Prize
Open to applications from unpublished fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds. This year the prize will be hosted by Hachette Children’s Group, and they are seeking fiction writing in the picture book genre.
Entry fee: None
Deadline: Monday 8 May
Bi+ Lines Anthology
Open to poetry submissions that explore ideas of in-betweenness, for publication in an upcoming anthology.
Deadline: Wednesday 31 May
June
Queen Mary Wasafiri Writing Prize 2023
Open to anyone who has not published or signed a contract to publish a book-length work of fiction, life writing, or poetry.
Deadline: Friday 30 June
Entry fee: £10 for a single entry, £16 for a double entry, and £6 for a single subsidised entry
Find out more about the Queen Mary Wasafiri Writing Prize 2023
August
Aesthetica Magazine Creative Writing Award
International literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction entries of innovative content and form. £2,500 for the Poetry Winner; £2,500 for the Short Fiction Winner. Both winners published in Aesthetica Magazine.
Entry Fee: Poetry £12 | Short Fiction £18
Deadline: 31 August 2023
Find out more about Aesthetica Magazine Creative Writing Award
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
Haunted Girlfriend & Beyond Form - Poetic Sexploration
Seeking submissions for a new anthology celebrating sex and intimacy.
Deadline: end of March
Propel Magazine - Issue 5
Accepting submissions from poets who have yet to publish their first full-length poetry collection. Guest edited by Alycia Pirmohamed.
Entry fee: None
Deadline: 31 March
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
Thi Wurd
Thi Wurd is a fiction magazine based in Glasgow. Submissions of short fiction and illustrations are welcome.
Entry fee: None
Eemis Stane
Published digitally three times a year, Eemis Stane furthsets poetry, fiction, essays and polemics in Scots o ony and ilka variety, frae ilka airt and pairt. Poetry submissions can consist o up tae three poems, totallin up tae 75 lines. Prose submissions, o baith fiction and non-fiction, should be nae langer than 2000 wirds.
Entry fee: None
Glasgow Review of Books
Glasgow Review of Books is looking for translations and poetry.
Entry fee: None
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
SNACK Magazine
Regularly seeking poetry submissions.
Yorick Radio
Literary podcast currently open for submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and reviews.
Deadline: Sunday 30 April
Verve Poetry Press
Open for submissions of full poetry collections. Include a one page description of your poetry background & your hopes for the book.
Deadline: Sunday 30 April
Entry fee: None