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Author: Stephen J. Williams

  • Submissions diary 10 October 2026

    Here is a digest of active publishing opportunities, prizes, and open calls across creative writing and visual arts for the week of Saturday, 10 October 2026:

    Literary Prizes & Competitions

    • Australian Book Review – 2027 Peter Porter Poetry Prize
      • Closing Date: 14 October 2026, 11:59 PM AEDT
      • Category: Poetry (single poem, maximum 60 lines, open theme)
      • Eligibility & Rules: Open to all poets writing in English worldwide. Poems must be original and previously unpublished.
      • Prizes & Entry Fee: AU$6,000 first prize; AU$1,000 for each of four shortlisted poets (AU$10,000 total pool). All shortlisted poems are published in *ABR*. Entry fee is AU$30 (AU$20 for current ABR subscribers). Details and listing also available via Writing NSW’s October Calendar.
    • The 2026 Hope Prize
      • Closing Date: 31 October 2026, 11:59 PM AEDT
      • Category: Short fiction or creative non-fiction/memoir
      • Eligibility & Rules: Open to writers aged 18+ internationally. Submissions must explore themes of hope, courage, or resilience; maximum 5,000 words (no minimum); double-spaced. Submit via The Hope Prize Submission Portal.
      • Prizes: AU$13,000 total prize pool (AU$10,000 first prize supported by Simon & Schuster Australia and Readings Books; AU$2,000 second; AU$1,000 third). Winning and highly commended stories will be published in a Simon & Schuster anthology.
    • SD Harvey Short Crime Story Award
      • Closing Date: 30 October 2026
      • Category: Crime fiction / Mystery short story
      • Eligibility & Rules: Stories between 2,000 and 5,000 words incorporating classic elements of suspense, mystery, investigation, or crime. Presented in association with the Australian Crime Writers Association.
      • Prizes & Entry Fee: $1,000 first prize; entry fee $35.
    • Martha Richardson Memorial Poetry Prize 2026
      • Closing Date: 31 October 2026
      • Category: Poetry (open theme, maximum 40 lines)
      • Eligibility & Rules: Administered by Ballarat Writers; judged by Australian author and poet Melissa Ashley.
      • Prizes & Entry Fee: $1,000 first prize, with additional regional writer awards. Entry fee applies via TryBooking.
    • Geelong Writers Ekphrastic Challenge #10
      • Closing Date: 25 October 2026
      • Category: Flash fiction, short prose, or poetry (maximum 300 words)
      • Eligibility & Rules: Open to members and non-members responding to the designated October artwork prompt.

    Poetry & Prose Submissions (Journals, Agencies & Presses)

    • Curtis Brown Australia – Open Manuscript Submissions
      • Reading Window: 1 October – 31 October 2026
      • Category: Commercial & literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, memoir, and YA/children’s manuscripts
      • Eligibility & Rules: Open to unagented writers who are residents of Australia and New Zealand. Requires a one-page synopsis, author bio, and sample chapters (first 50 pages) submitted via their online agency portal.
    • Overland Literary Journal – Submissions
      • Status: Open for general submissions
      • Category: Short fiction (up to 3,000 words), poetry (up to 3 poems per submission), and creative essays
      • Guidelines & Payment: Actively seeking progressive and experimental writing. Accepted print and online contributors receive standard industry rates (AUD $150–$500+ depending on genre and format).
    • The Freelance Writing Network Lit Mag Roster – October Open Windows
      • Status: Windows closing late October / early November 2026
      • Featured Publications:
        • The Iowa Review: General submission window open through October for fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.
        • The Massachusetts Review: General reading period open for essays, stories, and poetry.
        • Foglifter Journal: Submissions open for upcoming print issues focusing on hybrid forms, non-fiction, and poetry.
    • Phosphorescent Lit – Issue 3: “Fever”
      • Closing Date: 16 November 2026 (04:59 UTC)
      • Category: Poetry (up to 3 poems) and short prose (fiction/creative non-fiction up to 2,500 words)
      • Theme: “Fever” — exploring heat, delirium, obsession, intensity, and illness. Fee-free general submission route.

    Visual Art & Photography Calls

    Here is your weekly digest of active publishing opportunities, literary prizes, and visual art open calls, cross-referenced against your tracked bookmarks and regional directory listings:

    1. Literary Prizes & Competitions

    • Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2027 (Australian Book Review)
      • Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 October 2026 (Midnight AEDT)
      • Form & Scope: Single poems in English, maximum 70 lines. Open internationally to poets of any citizenship.
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$10,000 total prize pool (AU$6,000 first prize; four shortlisted poets receive AU$1,000 each and publication in ABR).
      • Entry Fee: AU$30 (or AU$20 for current ABR subscribers). (Source)
    • The Hope Prize 2026
      • Closing Date: Saturday, 31 October 2026
      • Form & Scope: Prose short stories between 2,000 and 5,000 words exploring the experience of people facing hardship, poverty, or marginalisation with resilience, dignity, and hope. Open globally (18+).
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$13,000 prize pool (AU$10,000 first prize; AU$2,000 second prize; AU$1,000 third prize).
      • Entry Fee: Free to enter. (Source)
    • SD Harvey Short Crime Story Award 2026 (Australian Writers’ Centre)
      • Closing Date: Friday, 30 October 2026
      • Form & Scope: Original, unpublished crime fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Open to writers residing in Australia.
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$1,000 first prize. Judged on narrative tension, plotting, and characterisation.
      • Entry Fee: AU$35. (Source)
    • Martha Richardson Memorial Poetry Prize 2026 (Ballarat Writers Inc.)
      • Closing Date: Saturday, 31 October 2026
      • Form & Scope: Poems up to 40 lines. Theme: “Night”.
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$1,000 first prize, AU$400 second prize, AU$100 third prize.
      • Entry Fee: AU$35 per poem (AU$25 for BWI members; AU$15 for subsequent poems). (Source)
    • Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2026 (Overland)
      • Closing Date: Friday, 4 December 2026 (Midnight AEDT)
      • Form & Scope: Short fiction up to 3,000 words loosely themed around the concept of “travel”.
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$5,000 first prize and publication in *Overland*; two runner-up prizes of AU$750 each.
      • Entry Fee: AU$20 general entry / AU$12 subscribers. (Source)
    • Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets 2026 (Overland)
      • Closing Date: Friday, 4 December 2026
      • Form & Scope: Original poetry up to 80 lines by writers who have not yet published a full-length commercial poetry collection.
      • Prizes & Terms: AU$9,000 prize pool (AU$6,000 first prize; AU$2,000 second; AU$1,000 third) plus publication.
      • Entry Fee: AU$20 non-subscribers / AU$12 subscribers. (Source)
    • Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize 2027
      • Closing Date: Friday, 12 December 2026 (6:00 PM AEST)
      • Form & Scope: Full unpublished fiction or narrative non-fiction manuscripts up to 80,000 words.
      • Prizes & Terms: Traditional trade publishing contract with Hawkeye Books plus an author coaching and structural/line editing package valued at AU$3,500. Two categories awarded: Open and Own Voices.
      • Entry Fee: AU$45 standard / AU$99 with comprehensive written assessment. (Source)

    2. Poetry & Prose Submissions

    • Meanjin (Edition 86.1 – Autumn 2027)
      • Submission Window: Opens Friday, 23 October 2026 (Midday AEST) — Closes Friday, 27 November 2026 (6:00 PM AEST)
      • Categories: Poetry (up to 3 poems), Short Fiction (up to 5,000 words), and Non-Fiction/Essays (up to 5,000 words).
      • Theme & Guidelines: Broad overarching theme of “Storytelling”. All accepted contributions are paid upon publication. Portals open on Submittable. (Source)
    • Curtis Brown Australia — Open Submissions Month
      • Window Closes: Saturday, 31 October 2026
      • Scope: Literary agency accepting unsolicited queries and manuscript proposals across literary fiction, commercial fiction, narrative non-fiction, and young adult writing without prior referral. (Source)
    • Australian Poetry Collaboration Issue 41 (Meuse Press)
      • Closing Date: Wednesday, 28 October 2026
      • Scope: Seeking collaborative poetic works written jointly by two or more poets.
      • Submission: Electronic submission via editorial guidelines. (Source)
    • Overland (General Submissions)
      • Status: Open / Ongoing on Submittable
      • Scope: Essays, critical reviews, fiction, cultural commentary, and political writing.
      • Contributor Rates: Standard industry rates apply (AU$150–AU$500 depending on length and print vs. online placement). (Source)
    • One Sentence Poems & Eunoia Review
      • Status: Open / Year-round rolling submissions
      • Scope: Single-sentence poetry (One Sentence Poems) and short fiction/poetry/creative non-fiction with rapid turnaround (Eunoia Review). Both accessible directly via your Raindrop writing collection.

    3. Visual Art, Photography & Illustration Calls

    • Aesthetica Art Prize 2026/2027
      • Closing Date: Sunday, 11 October 2026 (Late entries accepted through 18 October 2026)
      • Mediums: Photography, digital media, drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture, and video art.
      • Prizes & Terms: £10,000 Main Art Prize, £1,000 Emerging Art Prize, group exhibition in York, and publication in the Future Now: 100 Contemporary Artists anthology.
      • Entry Fee: Registration via site checkout. (Source)
    • Small Works Art Prize 2027 (Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy)
      • Closing Date: Sunday, 15 November 2026 (Midnight)
      • Mediums & Specs: Open to all 2D and 3D media (including photography, drawings, printmaking, painting, and small sculpture). Artwork must not exceed 35 × 35 × 35 cm.
      • Prizes & Exhibition: Over AU$15,000 in prizes, including two AU$2,000 solo exhibition packages and category awards. All eligible entries will be hung in the exhibition from 9–23 January 2027.
      • Entry Details: Detailed entry and hanging requirements available on the BSG Information Page. (Source)
    • Red Art Prize 2027 (Red Gallery, Fitzroy North)
      • Closing Date: Sunday, 20 December 2026 (or until gallery exhibition capacity is reached)
      • Mediums: Open-call exhibition launching the 2027 season for 2D and 3D contemporary visual art, drawing, print, and photography.
      • Entry Fee: From AU$60. (Source)
    • Collect Art — Open Call for Photography & Fine Art
      • Closing Date: Thursday, 15 October 2026
      • Scope: Curated international feature issue for street photography, documentary photography, and contemporary drawings/paintings.
      • Format: Up to 12 high-resolution images, brief artist statement, and bio. (Source)
  • Steve Cox: art school lite (interview)

    Steve Cox: art school lite (interview)

    Steve Cox has been teaching painting and drawing at art schools around Melbourne for the last 30 years. However, over the last few years he has witnessed the systematic eradication of drawing and painting from the art school experience. Originally Steve imagined this must have been a local administrative mistake, but it appears to be a global phenomenon. There are many who believe that painting and drawing are irrelevant to the future facing Contemporary Art. Has the concept of art that once sustained painting and had its day? Steve believes students are now facing ‘Art School Lite’.

  • James Walton: interview

    James Walton: interview

    James Walton’s interview in the Bass Coast Post

    I wrote the first lines of a poem in 1970 and didn’t write creatively again until late 2013 when I tuned 60 years of age. I finished that poem for a workshop with Mark Tredinnick who told me I, “demanded a lot of the reader but it was worth the journey”.

    I suppose that was the moment, along with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald placing a poem in the then Saturday Spectrum in May 2014, and then a number of placings in local and international poetry competitions in quite rapid succession.

    It must have all been bottled up there somewhere and got released nearing retirement.

    Archived at https://archive.is/j39LR

  • Stuart Barnes shortlisted in 2026 Montreal Prize

    Stuart Barnes shortlisted in 2026 Montreal Prize

    Congratulations, Stuart!

    Learning to Sing: A Bird’s-eye View

    The Montreal International Poetry Prize was founded and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2010 by the poet and critic Asa Boxer, with the help of Peter Abramowicz and Len Epp. It sponsors a crowd-funded biennial competition, awarding one prize of $20,000 to one poet for a single poem.

    The Montreal International Poetry Prize has become a truly global competition, supported by its international jury of award-winning poets from North America, the Caribbean, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, and Uganda, and with participants from more than 100 countries.

  • Anne Casey wins NYC Big Book Award

    Anne Casey wins NYC Big Book Award

    NYC Big Book Award is committed to finding the audiences for excellent books and to celebrate New York City.

    Anne Casey’s Seang has won this year’s Big Book Award in the category of Poetry—Social Justice, Migration & Political Witness.

    2026 winners
    NYC Big Book Awards

    Congratulations, Anne!

  • Class, edited by Les Wicks

    Class, edited by Les Wicks

    Download the anthology

    Les Wicks gathered an international crowd to build the poetry anthology ‘Class’, published in Australia in 2024 by Meuse Press. The book grew directly out of debates held in Canada and India across 2023 and 2024. It tackles the reality of economic divides during an era when the gap between rich and everyone became extreme.

    Instead of pushing a single political line, this collection serves up a mixture of human friction. Dozens of writers contribute, including Jeltje Fanoy, PiO, Vaughan Rapatahana, Marra PL. Lanot, and Gabriel Rosenstock. These poems break through social walls, exposing human vulnerability and the stubborn fight for common ground.

    Les Wicks unfurl posts

  • Elegy for a Tiler

    Elegy for a Tiler

    Over time, grief and loss change shape. So much of what remains lives in gesture, language, and the things we learned without ever formally being taught them.
    I know there are those of you out there who have lost the most important people in your lives, and I often find myself thinking about this great mystery. What is this life if it were not for them? To have learned, to have watched closely, to have listened, and now, without being told, to know where to place our hands.
    I think I can make some guesses about life and its meaning, but I cannot make sense of death, or what life there may be after it. I believe in the mystery of it all, and can only really rely on memory, however inaccurate memory itself may sometimes be. Perhaps memory is the afterlife.
    I wrote this poem about my father, and I was fortunate enough to have it included in the Montreal Poetry Prize anthology in 2020.

    Davide Angelo

    ▶︎ Montreal Poetry Prize — Elegy for a Tiler

    Davide Angelo unfurl posts

  • Steve Cox works in exhibition

    William Mora Galleries
    30 April–28 May 2026

    Address: 1/60 Tanner St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia

    Steve Cox’s works will be shown as part of a group exhibition.

    Steve Cox unfurl posts

  • ‘Queenscliff Monotypes’ by Susan Wald

    ‘Queenscliff Monotypes’ by Susan Wald

    Susan Wald’s Queenscliff Monotypes is opening on 26 March 2026, and continues until 13 April 2026, at Queenscliff Gallery.  She will be at the gallery on Sunday 29 March 2026 to talk about the work. Details below …

    Exhibition preview: Queenscliff Monotypes
    Event link: QG Exhibitions
    Acquisition enquiries: theo@qgallery.com.au

    — Facebook: QueenscliffGallery
    — Google: Queenscliff Gallery
    — Instagram: @queenscliffgallery
    — Twitter: @Q_cliffGallery
    — YouTube: queenscliffgallery

  • Alex Skovron’s Switchpoints

    Alex Skovron’s Switchpoints

    Alex Skovron’s new book, Switchpoints, is a collection of 100 narratives in prose and
    verse. It was published in March 2026. A link to the publishers, Puncher & Wattmann,
    can be found at the foot of this page.

    A philosopher sets about compiling an encyclopaedia of embraces; an artist accuses
    her mirror of a lifetime of dishonesty; a flâneur collects melodies from the faces of
    passing strangers; an author envisions the ultimate map charting every single move
    of his existence; a girl dreams of a magic box that would tell her everything …

    Switchpoints, Alex Skovron’s twelfth book, is a collection of 100 short narrative pieces, some in prose, others in verse. It is inhabited by a broad assortment of individuals of all ages, from children to the elderly, visited at particular and possibly significant moments in their daily life—moments of doubt or discovery, inertia or inspiration, of personal reflection, reminiscence or philosophical musing. There are skewed apprehensions and tender recognitions, lingering regrets and poignant realizations—‘switchpoint’ moments that trigger a jolt in thought or demeanour, or signal a shift in viewpoint or sense of self; or may not. The prod might be a line from a novel or poem, a painting or a piece of music, a landmark, a famous disaster, or perhaps no more than a sudden idea, a fading dream or an elusive recollection. Underpinning it all is a fascination with the workings of mind, the riddles of memory, the mystique of time.

    Switchpoints can be purchased directly from the publisher.