PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers 2026 ($2,000 prize)
opportunitydesk.org – Tuesday November 4, 2025
Deadline: November 25, 2025
Applications are open for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers 2026. The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes twelve emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website, and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers.
The prize is generously supported by the family of the late Robert J. Dau, whose commitment to the literary arts has made him a fitting namesake for this career-launching prize. Inspired by Dau’s hometown in northern Michigan and its proximity to Walloon Lake, where Ernest Hemingway spent much time and derived inspiration from, the prize promotes emerging voices and spotlights the next generation of fiction writers.
Prize
- The winning writers each receive a $2,000 cash prize and will be published by Catapult in their annual anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize.
New Magazine Listing: Drift & Dribble Miscellany
firstwriter.com – Tuesday November 4, 2025
Showcases an eclectic range of voices, each experiencing the world in their own authentic way. We are especially interested in unique viewpoints and themes that challenge day-to-day life. We publish stories, occasional poems, essays, and dribbles, and especially those works that capture the challenges and magnitude of inhabiting our complex human world and reveal it with objectivity and honesty. We welcome literary and experimental work, personal accounts, complex characters and surreal or witty takes from the cornucopia and look for writing that is clear and intriguing in its depth or play. Most of all, we want work that is about something our readers care about. Let's see what you have.
Splinter Journal Navigates the Muck and Mire of Literature
tobemagazine.com.au – Monday November 3, 2025
Splinter Journal is an Adelaide-based publication that features the literary work of Australian and international writers. Published bi-annually, it showcases a variety of written forms, such as fiction, essays, and poetry. We spoke to the editor, Farrin Foster, about her involvement with Splinter and the vision behind the journal.
DANIEL DRAZETIC Can you tell us a little bit about the ethos behind Splinter and how the platform is being used by writers across Australia and overseas?
FARRIN FOSTER Splinter was devised as a way to knit together the writing scenes in South Australia and those across the rest of the country and the world. There has been a great online literary journal in Tarntanya called The Saltbush Review, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had a print journal made here.
I think, counter-intuitively, that print has the capacity to make deeper connections (although maybe not wider ones) than online (not that I’m anti-internet; I doomscroll and read online as much as the next elder millennial). But readers connect with writers in a different way in print, and for the kind of writing we are publishing in Splinter – which is absurd, emotional, funny, and often also kind of devastating – that connection is important. I think Splinter is a vehicle for new writing by SA writers to be seen alongside the best writing from around the world. We are about connecting and representing writers in our home state, but we’re not parochial – we publish writers from everywhere.
Applications for the 2026 George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop are now open
medill.northwestern.edu – Monday November 3, 2025
The workshop is designed for mid-career journalists who are writing their first novels
The third annual George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is now accepting applications.
The 10 mid-career journalists selected to participate will learn from award-winning novelists and writing instructors. The eight-day, fully funded writing intensive program will take place in Evanston, Illinois, from July 7-15.
“Talented journalists often have numerous vital stories to tell — and some of those stories would make compelling novels,” said Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Medill’s George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling, who will be leading the workshop. “In the first two years of our program, we’ve seen journalists arrive at our workshop with pages or chapters of a novel in progress that’s been percolating in their heads for years and leave with solid pages of a working manuscript. We’re looking forward to achieving the same with our 2026 GRRM Workshop class.”
New Literary Agent Listing: Clara Chuiton
firstwriter.com – Monday November 3, 2025
Looking for adult upmarket and genre fiction with a unique hook. She is especially interested in rom-coms, smart, fast-paced thrillers, standalone science-fiction novels, and stories that blend genres. She is also open to select political and sociological non-fiction.
The making of Death Kit and the importance of print: In conversation with editor Joe Coward
theboar.org – Sunday November 2, 2025
“Print is essential – it’s what people want.”
On October 28, I was lucky enough to speak with editor Joe Coward to discuss the founding – and thriving – of London’s new small press literary magazine, Death Kit. At only four pounds a copy, Death Kit situates itself proudly as one of the most accessible lit mags in town. We covered what it takes to bring a literary magazine to life, the importance of print in an online age, and the future of the magazine-come-community that is Death Kit. Here’s the rundown:
Even the naming of the mag signals that Death Kit is publishing work that “turns away from trends”
Where did the name come from? The striking name comes from the Susan Sontag novel. Coward mentions Vanity Fair as another magazine that takes its title from literature, but even the naming of the mag signals that Death Kit is publishing work that “turns away from trends.” Unbothered by pop-culture, you can be sure to find writing that’s unapologetically strange.
How did it begin? The project that was born out of “boredom” is now six months old and is celebrating the release of its second issue this October. With accessibility at the forefront, Coward emphasised the importance of being willing to invest what you can, in order for the magazine to find itself in as many hands as possible. The team is small, with as little as two regular editors and two feature-writers: “all quite unofficial,” but successful nonetheless.
Efiko Magazine Opens Submissions for 7th Edition - Deadline November 22, 2025
brittlepaper.com – Friday October 31, 2025
Efiko Magazine is now accepting submissions! Writers are invited to submit their poems, short stories, and essays for consideration until November 22, 2025.
Efiko Magazine is an online literary magazine with a focus on Africa as both place and perspective. They are seeking work of the highest quality from writers of African origin based anywhere in the world or anyone writing about Africa.
Submission Guidelines
What They’re Looking For:
- Poetry: 2 to 5 poems totalling 10 pages
- Short stories and essays: 1,200 to 5,000 words
Finding Your Writing Flow After NaNoWriMo
sfwa.org – Thursday October 30, 2025
When November approaches, writers everywhere feel it—that itch in our fingers, the spark of imagination, the pull to tell stories. For years, we channeled that energy during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an annual challenge to draft 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. Founded in 1999 and formalized as a nonprofit in 2006, NaNoWriMo inspired millions, building a global movement around storytelling.
But by 2025, financial troubles, governance failures, and controversies—including mishandled child endangerment complaints and the decision to allow AI-generated works—eroded trust. The organization ultimately shut down, leaving behind a void in the writing community.
Like many, I missed the structure and momentum NaNoWriMo once offered. Over the summer, I found myself yearning for it to rise from the dead as I stared at a neglected draft of 10,000 words I’d written a year earlier. Without NaNoWriMo to lean on, I wondered: Was there another challenge or tool that could help me get my writing groove back?
Independent children's publisher Knights Of set to close
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 30, 2025
Award winning inclusive children’s publisher Knights Of is to close, The Bookseller understands, with accountancy firm Hart Shaw instructed to place the company in liquidation, pending a vote of the shareholders.
The company – which as of 16th October ceased trading – is expected to go into liquidation during the week of 10th November. Shareholders include co-founder and MD Aimée Felone, co-founder Dee Stevens, and authors Robin Stevens and Sophie Anderson.
No reason has been given for the collapse, though it is understood that KO had been talking to publishers about a potential sale for sometime. Knights Of would not comment when contacted by The Bookseller, except to confirm its closure.
This week its offshoot bookshop Round Table Books – which is a separately run Community Interest Company – launched a fund-raising initiative to move into bigger premises.
AI to help writers tackle writer's block, says Bloomsbury boss Nigel Newton
thebookseller.com – Wednesday October 29, 2025
AI will "help creativity" by enabling writers and creatives to get "back in the zone", according to Nigel Newton, the founder and CEO of Bloomsbury.
However, the technology will not replace writers, as readers are turning "increasingly to sources of authority for reassurance", Newton told the PA news agency.
"I think AI will probably help creativity, because it will enable the eight billion people on the planet to get started on some creative area where they might have hesitated to take the first step," Newton said.
"AI gets them going and writes the first paragraph, or first chapter, and gets them back in the zone," he added. "And it can do similar things with painting and music composition and with almost all of the creative arts."
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
