Opportunities

Working as a Writer Workshop: From Side-Passion to Professional Practice

This informative, interactive session is taking place on July 12 from 10:00 am – 1:30 pm, and costs $215.00 + taxes and fees to participate. 

Alexis Marie Chute, the director of Wild Skies Press, is hosting this workshop as a deep dive into essential strategies that every writer needs to thrive in today’s literary landscape. Whether crafting short-form articles or building towards a fourth (or fifth) book, this session will give participants the tools and insights to build a sustainable, income-generating written career—on their terms. 

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts Program

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts programs offer writers dedicated time and space to focus on their craft, connect with an artistic community, and receive mentorship from esteemed faculty. Whether you’re an emerging or established writer, these residencies provide a creative retreat to deepen your practice.

Deep Winter Writers 2026

Application deadline: August 20, 2025 | Program dates: January 12 – 30, 2026

This 19-day self-directed residency offers the opportunity to work away from the constraints of everyday life, delve deep into a creative project and take advantage of a community of artistic peers. Deep Winter Writers provides opportunities for consultations with exceptional mentors Holly Pester, Divya Victor, and Nasser Hussain and professional guest Joshua Rothes, as well as optional group sessions.

Summer 2026 West Coast Fiction Writer Residency at The McLoughlin Gardens

The deadline for applications is September 15, 2025.

The McLoughlin Gardens welcomes applications from established Canadian writers of fiction for a four-week residency in the summer of 2026.

The McLoughlin Gardens are the site of a Creative Residency on Vancouver Island. In addition to a studio residency program for local writers and visual artists, they also host one or more Canadian authors as writers-in-residence for a four-week period during the summer months.  Writers receive an honorarium of $3,000 and full use of the cottage and adjacent studio. Travel costs are the writer’s responsibility.

The residency takes place at McLoughlin Gardens, a regional park in the Comox Valley. The seaside cottage is fully equipped and surrounded by gardens and a seashore, where an abundance of wildlife can be seen daily.

Past writers-in-residence include poets Anne Simpson, Don McKay, Maleea Acker, and Arleen Paré. Playwright Marcus Youssef, novelist Jennifer Manuel, and non-fiction writer Darrel McLeod have also been in residence. In 2023, children’s author Sara Cassidy was at the Gardens as well as former Victoria poet laureate Yvonne Blomer.

The mission of the McLoughlin Gardens is to nurture the transformative power of art, nature, and story in creating a more just, sustainable, and equitable world. The seaside cottage and studio at the McLoughlin Gardens are ideally situated to offer a writer seclusion and proximity to nature as they advance their creative work.

Learn more about the McLoughlin Gardens at mcloughlingardens.org.

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts Program

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts programs offer writers dedicated time and space to focus on their craft, connect with an artistic community, and receive mentorship from esteemed faculty. Whether you’re an emerging or established writer, these residencies provide a creative retreat to deepen your practice.

Contemporary French Literature

Application deadline: September 24, 2025 | Program dates: February 9 – 20, 2026

This 12-day contemporary writing residency will provide French citizens with the opportunity to explore craft and voice while introducing them to the North American publishing market. Participants will be able to workshop their original prose or poetry manuscripts with a faculty of accomplished writers and translators of French and English.

Applications Are Now Open for the DC Reid Poets’ Grant

The deadline to apply is October 6, 2025.  

The DC Reid Poets’ Grant is now accepting applications from Canadian poets of modest means in need of support. The program will anonymously deliver grants of $5,000 to poets to help fund their writing.

The program was established with funding from author and poet DC Reid to support working poets. Annual earnings from the fund are directed to help talented poets navigate the precarious circumstances that can accompany a poetry vocation and inhibit its creation.

Reid remembers a time when his life was less peaceful due to chronic illness and financial fatigue. In 2024, he made an investment of $1.5 million to establish an endowment for Canadian poets at Writers’ Trust. His support has allowed Writers’ Trust to meet the needs of a group within the writing community that often goes unnoticed.

Learn more at DC Reid Poets’ Grant | Writers’ Trust of Canada.

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts Program

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts programs offer writers dedicated time and space to focus on their craft, connect with an artistic community, and receive mentorship from esteemed faculty. Whether you’re an emerging or established writer, these residencies provide a creative retreat to deepen your practice.

Spring Writers Residency

Application deadline: October 15, 2025 | Program dates: March 16 – 27, 2026

Banff Centre’s Spring Writers Residency provides participants with the time and space for creative exploration away from the constraints of everyday life. Writers will be able to delve deep into their creative project, meet with a community of artistic peers, and take advantage of workshops and mentorship opportunities with faculty.

Call for Submissions to Disability Gain

Deadline: October 15, 2025

The Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba (AANM) is publishing a new anthology, Disability Gain (i.e. the good that can come from disability), edited by Diane Driedger and Sara Arenson. Deaf or disabled writers are invited to submit their prose or poetry to be included in the anthology. Selected writers will receive an honorarium and a copy of the published book.

Disability is often seen in a negative light, as loss, deficit or tragedy. But we can also talk about the good that can come from it, such as creativity, resourcefulness, community connections, new directions, and unique abilities. Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba is seeking writing that flips the script and shows what we can gain from disability.

AANM is looking for essays, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir or work that defies genre, from writers who self-identify as having a disability, whether physical, sensory, neurological, intellectual, mental health, neurodivergence, or chronic illness.

Submit prose of any genre up to 1,000 words, or up to three poems.

Please send your writing to:

info@aanm.ca (Subject: Anthology Submission)

or

Anthology Submissions
Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba
102 – 329 Cumberland Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 1T2

If you have any questions, please contact AANM at info@aanm.ca or 204-336-2366.

Fiction Writers: Submit to the Next Volume of AfriCANthology!

Submissions are open for AfriCANthology II: Strange Truth of Black Canadian Fiction until the deadline of October 31, 2025.

Centauri Arts: Creative Writing Retreats

Now into their 10th year, Centauri Arts writing retreats offer emerging and established writers of fiction, poetry, and memoir the opportunity to develop their skills and focus on their writing in serene and beautiful locations. Emerging and established writers are welcome. Combine a love of writing with sightseeing as you join with others who share your interests.

Creative Writing Retreat in Merida, Mexico

November 29 – December 6 2025

The beautiful city of Merida in the Yucatan is the site for this annual retreat, which combines daily workshops and free writing time with visits to galleries, museums, street festivals, Mayan ruins and more. Merida offers an endless choice of Mexico, Yucatecan and Mayan restaurants, and our base is a pretty little boutique hotel in the heart of the city.  (limited spots remain)

Creative Writing Retreats in Costa Rica

January 24 – 31, 2026, and January 31 – February 7, 2026

The first Costa Rica retreat week is to Quepos, a beach town ten minutes from Manuel Antonio National Park, staying in 2- and 3-bedroom cottages overlooking the ocean. Morning workshops are following by sightseeing trips, sunset boat tours, beach hikes, and more.

The second retreat week is to a glorious rainforest lodge on the slopes of Arenal volcano. Choose this retreat for daily writing workshops and a complete immersion in pristine nature.

Transportation between lodges is offered free of charge for writers attending both weeks.

Creative Writing Retreat in York, England

September 13 – 19, 2026

Join this retreat in the historical city of York for a week of writing workshops and sightseeing that includes museums, the city walls, York Minster, Castle Howard, and Robin Hood’s Bay.

Submissions to The New Quarterly Magazine

The New Quarterly holds two annual reading periods for each genre.
Submissions sent between September 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, will receive a response around late August.
Submissions sent between March 1 and August 31, 2026, will receive a response around late January.

The New Quarterly publishes short fiction, poetry, postscripts, and nonfiction. The New Quarterly has a range of nonfiction series that focus on the writing life: day jobs, in conversation, on writing, soundings, “The Writer at Large”, and word & image. For most of these series, works are solicited from known writers, but if you have an essay that you think would be a perfect fit for one of these series, please forward it with a cover letter to info[at]tnq.ca.

All submissions are done online and no mail-in submissions will be accepted. Submit and see full details at https://tnq.ca/submit/.

King’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction and Fiction

Applications for both Creative Nonfiction and Fiction open October 15, 2025, and close March 15, 2026.

The University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is delighted to welcome applicants in both creative nonfiction and fiction to this unique limited-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs. Ideal for students who wish to remain in their home communities while receiving the support, structure, and networking opportunities of one of Canada’s top MFA programs, the King’s MFA programs offer instruction in both the craft of writing and the business of publishing.

Depending on their program of study, students focus solely on either creative nonfiction or fiction, take part in in-person and online residencies, and work one-to-one with their mentor-teachers. The fiction program welcomes applicants interested in commercial and genre fiction—mystery, science fiction, fantasy, young adult, romance, and more—as well as literary fiction.

You can find out more through their website at https://ukings.ca/area-of-study/writing-and-publishing/.

Arc Poetry Magazine Submission Period

Arc accepts unsolicited submissions from poets at all stages of their writing careers during their Spring and Fall submission periods.

Arc pays for poetry at the rate of $50 per page, with which Arc secures First Cana­dian Serial Rights (meaning that the poems should not appear in any print or digital publication before being published by Arc). Upon pub­li­ca­tion, all rights revert to the author and payment is mailed, as well as one free copy of the issue in which the work appears.

Arc accepts pre­vi­ously unpub­lished poetry in English or pre­vi­ously unpub­lished translations of poetry into English, on any sub­ject and in any form. Poets may only submit once per calendar year. Poetry submissions must not exceed three poems or 360 lines of poetry. Submissions of more than one poem must be broken up into two or three files and submitted separately on Submittable, along with the poet’s biog­ra­phy. Arc only accepts poetry submissions using the online submission manager Submittable, except when otherwise indicated. Arc does not accept paper poetry submissions. Submissions received by mail will not be read and will not receive a response.

Arc aims to respond to unso­licited sub­mis­sions of poetry within four to six months. Arc cannot promise to respond to inquiries regard­ing the sta­tus of sub­mis­sions before the com­ple­tion of the submission period.

See full submission guidelines at https://arcpoetry.ca/resources/general-submissions/.

Submit to Broken Pencil Magazine

Broken Pencil is a quarterly magazine of zine culture and the independent arts based in Toronto, ON. Broken Pencil is looking for works of fiction from diverse writers (broadly defined) that conform to no principles, no guidelines, and no preconceptions. We want work that is quirky, surprising, moving, and raw. Solid, well-written, carefully considered prose showing a strong grasp of the mechanics of grammar and syntax is always a pleasure to read. To get a sense of the work Broken Pencil publishes, take a moment to read a few issues of the magazine to see if yours would be a good fit. Please, no COVID-19 pandemic stories.

Stories should be no longer than 3,000 words. Payment varies, depending on the status of finances. Pay right now is between $60 and $120 per piece.

Please be patient. Broken Pencil reads fiction submissions year round, but due to the volume of submissions, it might take a while to get back to you, but every story you send is read with consideration and care. Do not submit more than one story at a time and do not submit more than once every six months.

Read more about Broken Pencil at http://www.brokenpencil.com.

Submit your work at https://brokenpencil.submittable.com/submit.

Submit to Prism international Magazine

Submissions are accepted year-round.

Due to the high volume of submissions received each month, reply times range between six to twelve months, depending on the time of year. Prism is currently experiencing a backlog. Please do not reach out to check on the status of your submission. Your submission remains under review unless marked “declined”.

PRISM international publishes exciting, original, literary material from established and emerging writers in Canada and around the world. PRISM does not publish the same writer twice in a publication year. Submissions must be made through Submittable and are not accepted via email or mail (the only exception is for incarcerated writers). There is a $3.00 reading fee per submission.

Click here to submit.
If you have any questions about these guidelines or a piece you’ve already submitted, please email Natasha at prose@prismmagazine.ca.

Submit up to four poems, to a maximum of six pages. Do NOT submit six one-page poems. Cross-genre and interdisciplinary poetry and poetics are welcome.
Click here to submit poetry. 
If you have any questions about these guidelines or a piece you’ve already submitted, please email Dora at poetry@prismmagazine.ca.

Poetry and prose translations into English are also welcome. Such works must be undertaken with the permission of the original author. Please include a copy of the original work with your submission.

See full submission details at http://prismmagazine.ca/submit/.

Publishing House Looking for Manuscripts

Authors Get Published is an online boutique publishing house located in Toronto, Ontario. They are a full-service publishing house that publishes first-time and seasoned authors on their journey to become published authors, by providing book cover creation, manuscript editing services, formatting, and more. Distributed through Ingram, Authors Get Published work to ensure that each author’s book or books receive maximum visibility online through their website and online platforms where books are sold. If you would like to submit your manuscript for consideration, please email the Editor-in-Chief Christine at Christine@AuthorsGetPublished.com. They get back to every submission within 2 weeks. Please refer to their website for complete manuscript submission details.

Black Romance Book Club

Tanya Lee, the founder of A Room of Your Own, a national book club for at risk teen girls, introduces The Black Romance Book Club, a new subscription-based program that includes monthly book club meetings with the book authors. The Black Romance Book Club was created to promote more black romances to be written in Canada about black love taking place in Canada. Black writers and those who would like to learn how to write romance novels to start promoting black love in Canada are needed!

The program will be hybrid in person and online. It will take place at the Hamilton Art Gallery starting in September. The Black Romance Book Club costs $80/month and includes monthly meetings with book authors as well as writing workshops for anyone interested in becoming a romance author themselves. Monthly subscription fees will go towards author fees for hotel, transportation and food for in person events. This will also support hosting fees, venue space, and technology fees.  Lee has also set the subscription fees to ensure that the authors get paid their due, and fees will also go towards a donation to a domestic violence shelter.

CBC produced a radio documentary on A Room of Your Own: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/docproject/how-this-book-club-helps-teenage-girls-across-canada-discuss-tough-topics-1.6363198

CBC wrote an article about The Black Romance Book Club:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-book-club-black-romance-1.6521902

Sign up by emailing Programming@artgalleryofhamilton.com.

Atmosphere Press Call for Submissions!

Deadline: Ongoing

Atmosphere Press currently seeks great manuscripts from diverse (feminist!) voices. This year Atmosphere authors have sold thousands of books across five continents, received featured reviews with Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and have even appeared on a giant billboard in Times Square. And they’d love to see what you’ve written!

Call for Pitches to Rebel Women Lit (RWL)

Deadline: Ongoing

Rebel Women Lit (RWL) publishes discussions on contemporary literary culture, interviews with writers, reviews of publications (creative and scholarly) related to the Caribbean, the African diaspora, and Black Feminism, as well as short fiction and poetry by emerging and established Caribbean writers.

RWL invites submissions of:

• • • • • discussion essays on contemporary literary culture (700-1,500 words)
        • discussion essays on contemporary Caribbean social justice issues (700-1,500 words)
        • critical reviews of scholarly or creative literary works (1,000-1,200 words)
        • interviews with Caribbean & African authors and/or literary scholars (2,000-2,500 words)
        • poems and short fiction (maximum 4,000 words) from emerging and established Caribbean and African writers

RWL publishes one post per week and accepts submissions on a rolling basis. You are kindly asked that you do not write a piece before pitching it to the RWL editors, unless you are submitting a short story or poem for consideration in the Arts section. Please review the style requirements below and adhere to the word limits for all submissions.

Permissions:
Contributors are responsible for obtaining written permission to reprint and reproduce any material. Similarly, it is the responsibility of contributors to supply the source of all previously published material. Accepted writers will be compensated a small stipend of $20 – $30 USD for each piece.

Reviews:
Reviews should be preceded by the full name of the author, the title, city, press, and year of publication.

Interviews:
Interviews must begin with a short paragraph that includes information about the interviewee, the date and general purpose of the interview. The first question must be preceded by the full name of the interviewer and a colon, in bold. The first response should be preceded by the full name of the interviewee and a colon, in bold. Subsequent questions and responses should be preceded by initials and colons, in bold.

Pitches:
Pitches should be summarized in four to eight sentences. All pitches must include the subject of your writing or review, the main topics and/or themes to be critically explored, and the relevance to the RWL community.

https://www.rebelwomenlit.com/pitch

The Human Writers

Deadline: Ongoing

The Human Writers is a platform that publishes true stories written by people aged 50 and over. The goal is simple but powerful: to preserve voices, build intergenerational connection, and remind people that every life holds meaning, wisdom, and heart.

What began in Australia has now grown into a global initiative, and submissions are now being welcomed from the UK, Canada, and beyond. Writers can send in a typed or handwritten story, which will be lightly edited and published on their website. Contributors are also invited to record themselves reading their piece, which adds an incredibly moving dimension.

Call for Submissions James Lorimer & Company

James Lorimer & Company, an independent book publisher located in Toronto, is looking for writers to contribute to their children’s and teens publishing program.

James Lorimer & Company is seeking fiction, non-fiction and graphic novel manuscripts by Canadian creators for its children’s and teens’ imprint. The goal of this publishing program is to provide engaging, accessible books for young people that address social-justice and human-rights issues as they uniquely affect Canadian society or individual Canadians. The aim is to reflect a diverse range of cultural, regional, and socio-economic experiences and issues in the books they publish. Recent publishing success include their collection of LGBTQ+ romances for teens (Real Love series), a non-fiction series on young people who have been wrongfully convicted (Real Justice series), and Indigenous titles, such as the graphic novel If I Go Missing and the young adult novel The Missing. Submissions can be emailed to submissions@lorimer.ca and should include a cover letter, a short biography outlining your past writing experience and qualifications, a plot summary or outline, a chapter-by-chapter outline and 3–4 sample chapters or a complete manuscript.

Call for Submissions to Canadian Writers Abroad Website

Canadian Writers Abroad is looking for book reviews, interviews, or pieces from writers who have lived at least six months abroad, or who have travelled to research their book. The website was founded and is still run by Canadian Authors Association member Debra Martens, and began as a volunteer project to promote the work of Canadian authors who live, or lived, outside of Canada. Debra Martens writes much of the content and openly invites others to contribute. Submitting to the site provides self-promotion opportunities but does not provide monetary payment at this time. Canadian Writers Abroad will be celebrating it’s tenth anniversary in 2021.

F(r)iction: Call for Submissions

Submission Guidelines

• • • • • Short fiction: 1,001 – 7,500 words
        • Creative nonfiction: up to 6,500 words
        • Poetry: three pages or less per poem, up to five poems per submission
        • Flash fiction: 1,000 words or less

• • • • • All genres are welcome, but especially those that celebrate the weird, take risks with form and content, and are driven by a strong, unique voice.
        • All work must be previously unpublished. This means if your work has appeared in any print or online source (this includes personal blogs, websites, and social media pages), we cannot accept it.
        • Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately by choosing “withdraw” in Submittable if your work is selected for publication elsewhere.
        • Submit as many pieces as you’d like.

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia Establishes Greg Younging Undergraduate Award in Publishing Studies

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (ABPBC), in partnership with the Publishing Program at Simon Fraser University, is pleased to announce the launch of the Greg Younging Undergraduate Award in Publishing Studies, which will help support the training of emerging Indigenous publishers in Canada.

The award was established in memory of Dr. Gregory Younging (1961–2019), publisher at Theytus Books and a member of the ABPBC board of directors at the time of his death. Greg graduated from the SFU Master of Publishing Program in 2000 and later taught as adjunct faculty. A member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, Greg was Assistant Director of Research for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and led the Canadian publishing industry in responding to their calls to action, advocating for Indigenous editorial agency and serving as a trusted resource for publishers of Indigenous texts. He was the author of The Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples (2018), now considered an indispensable resource for North American publishers. The ABPBC honoured him in 2018 with the Gray Campbell Award Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of his work as an advocate for Indigenizing Canadian publishing.

At least one award, valued at a minimum of $1,000, will be granted annually in any term to an undergraduate student who meets the following criteria:

• • • • • is enrolled full-time during the term of eligibility;
        • has declared a minor in Print and Digital Publishing;
        • is in good academic standing;
        • is Indigenous; and
        • has been actively involved in community service.

“We appreciate the support of Greg’s family for this initiative, in particular his parents, George Ing and his mother, the late Dr. Rosalyn Ing,” said Heidi Waechtler, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia. “We are proud to be able to recognize Greg’s life and legacy in this way, and to help carry on the work he did to support emerging publishing professionals.” Suzanne Norman, lecturer and industry liaison for the Publishing Program at SFU, commented, “Greg’s contribution to publishing education and his work around Indigenous editorial protocols, have been pivotal in establishing a larger space for Indigenous writers, designers, publishers, and editors in Canada. He would be so proud of this new scholarship. His work with SFU may have begun in 1997, but his contributions continue and his work will always play a large role in the future of the SFU Publishing Program.”

Additional donations to the Greg Younging Undergraduate Award in Publishing at SFU can be made through Simon Fraser University’s Advancement Department.

Submissions to Voyage Magazine