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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.
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Research more than one hundred agents who represent poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, plus details about the kinds of books they’re interested in representing, their clients, and the best way to contact them.
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Find a home for your work by consulting our searchable databases of writing contests, literary magazines, small presses, literary agents, and more.
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Get the Word Out is a new publicity incubator for debut fiction writers and poets.
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Since our founding in 1970, Poets & Writers has served as an information clearinghouse of all matters related to writing. While the range of inquiries has been broad, common themes have emerged over time. Our Top Topics for Writers addresses the most popular and pressing issues, including literary agents, copyright, MFA programs, and self-publishing.
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Well over ten thousand poets and writers maintain listings in this essential resource for writers interested in connecting with their peers, as well as editors, agents, and reading series coordinators looking for authors. Apply today to join the growing community of writers who stay in touch and informed using the Poets & Writers Directory.
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Poets & Writers lists readings and other literary events held online and in person. Whether you are an author on a book tour or the curator of a reading series, the Literary Events Calendar can help you find your audience.
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Get the Word Out is a new publicity incubator for debut fiction writers and poets.
The Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award introduces emerging writers to the New York City literary community, providing them with a network for professional advancement.
Find information about how Poets & Writers provides support to hundreds of writers participating in literary readings and conducting writing workshops.
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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.
Every day the editors of Poets & Writers Magazine scan the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know.
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Olga Mexina is an award-winning poet, writer, and translator. Born in what is now St. Petersburg, Russia, she lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is a PhD candidate at Florida State University and Interviews Editor for Southeast Review. Mexina’s poetry won the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition in 2025, was a finalist in Narrative’s Sixteenth Annual Poetry Contest, The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition in 2024, the 2025 Bridport Prize, the 2025 ALTA Travel Fellowship, and was an Editors’ Final Round Pick for the 2024 Plentitudes Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Narrative, Boulevard, Southword, Red Wheelbarrow, and elsewhere, and her translations have appeared in various magazines including Asymptote, Resistance and Opposition Arts Review, and Angime. Her book of translations of the Russian poet Boris Ryzhy is forthcoming from Zephyr Press in March 2027.
2025 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition
