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Writing and Translation Grants (Worldwide)

Currently 5 active writing and translation grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.

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Open calls

  1. Briarpatch Magazine: AI Resistance Issue, Winter 2027 Call for Pitches

    Briarpatch Magazine · Regina, Canada (remote pitching; Canadian focus) · Deadline: 18 Sep 2026 · Award: CAD 150 for profiles, short essays, book reviews and parting shots (under ~1,500 words); CAD 250 for feature stories and photo essays; CAD 350 for research-based articles and investigative reporting (2,000-2,500 words). No pitch fee.

    Briarpatch, the Canadian magazine of grassroots politics, dedicates its Winter 2027 issue to AI Resistance and is paying for articles, investigative reporting, historical analysis, photo essays, timelines, profiles, reading lists and art. SUGGESTED ANGLES include Indigenous-led and local resistance to data centres, exploitation and outsourcing of labour in LLM training, AI's impact on work and union resistance, data mining and data sovereignty, environmental and climate impacts, artists and AI (crisis of creativity and ownership), the language and inevitability narratives of AI, policing and the surveillance state, AI and disinformation, and investigations into Big Tech lobbying and media influence in Canada. PITCH: outline what ground your contribution covers, estimated word count, and your relevant experience; first-time Briarpatch writers should add a brief writing sample. Send to pitch [at] briarpatchmagazine.com. Accepted first drafts are due 14 October 2026 with collaborative editing until late November; publication is not guaranteed. No pitch fee. Deadline 18 September 2026.

  2. Tech Policy Press Fellowship Program 2027

    Tech Policy Press · Fully remote, worldwide. International applicants explicitly encouraged; fellows work as independent contractors. No requirement to be authorised to work in the USA. · Deadline: 24 Sep 2026 · Award: USD 10,000 stipend per fellow, paid quarterly. Also included: editorial guidance from the Tech Policy Press team, membership of an international cohort with regular feedback and exchange, and monthly sessions to strengthen the work. Fellows' work is published on the Tech Policy Press website and promoted through the newsletter, podcast and events. No application fee.

    Tech Policy Press is recruiting its 2027 fellowship cohort to pursue independent reporting and analysis on urgent questions at the intersection of technology and democracy. Since 2023 the programme has supported 25 fellows from 11 countries across three cohorts, writing on AI governance, tech regulation, digital rights and the entanglement of state and corporate power. WHO IT IS FOR: mid-career journalists, researchers, lawyers and public policy professionals with a strong background in a specific tech policy area, a particular geography, or technology's impact on democracy and society. Applicants from the Global Majority and from communities underrepresented in media are encouraged, as are projects that centre communities and regions usually excluded from global tech policy conversations. Contributions can range from original reporting to policy analysis, and technical practitioners are welcome as long as the work fits the publication's editorial purview. EXPECTATIONS: at least one piece of analysis or reporting per month (exclusive to Tech Policy Press, though it may be republished elsewhere), a mandatory hour-long monthly cohort meeting, a monthly check-in with the editorial team, collaboration with other fellows and the masthead, agreed deadlines, and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Applicants should arrive with a clear area of focus and a sense of how the work will inform both the public and decision-makers. APPLY via the online form by 11:59pm EDT on 24 September 2026, with a CV or resume, a cover letter of no more than two pages, links to prior publications (open access, published within the past three years, at least one in English and at least one solo-authored; social posts, pre-prints and unpublished coursework do not count) and two professional references. Shortlisted candidates may be invited to an online interview. Decisions are expected by early December 2026. Two optional Zoom information sessions run on 9 September at 8am EDT and 16 September at 7pm EDT; registration required.

  3. Sheer Spite Press: Digital Distro Call for Zine Submissions

    Sheer Spite Press · Montreal, Canada (digital distribution, open worldwide) · Deadline: 31 Dec 2026 · Award: Revenue share, not a grant: creators set their own PDF pricing and keep up to 80 percent of each sale, paid quarterly (modest sums expected); non-exclusive, you can keep selling elsewhere

    Sheer Spite Press, a Montreal-based independent press running since 2024, is open for submissions of zines to be distributed digitally as PDFs through its new digital distro (no print at this time). PRIORITIZING work that is long, text-centric, passionate, personal, anti-authoritarian and accessible (probably not poetry), on topics like community care, friendship, history, food, sex and kink, memoir, DIY and adventures. TERMS: the press sells your PDFs, you choose your own pricing and keep up to 80 percent of sales, paid quarterly (very modest sums expected); distribution is non-exclusive, so you can keep selling your zines anywhere else. Note this is a revenue-share distribution arrangement, not a grant or stipend. Submit via the CryptPad form linked from the call; questions to lee@sheerspite.ca. No submission fee. Open until 31 December 2026.

  4. C Magazine: Call for Pitches (Art Writing & Criticism)

    C Magazine · Toronto, Canada (open to writers internationally) · Deadline: Rolling / undated · Award: 35-45 cents/word; print reviews flat CAD $430; online reviews CAD $210. No fee.

    Contemporary art magazine commissioning paid art writing and criticism, with pitches accepted on an ongoing basis (online reviews/pitches continuous; themed print issues have set deadlines, e.g. the Spring issue around 15 September 2026). A direct paid outlet for criticism on digital, new-media and AI art. ELIGIBILITY: writers at all experience levels are invited; not restricted to Canada. Mostly pitch-based, with short online reviews accepted unsolicited.

  5. Rest of World: Labor x Tech Reporting Commissions (Year 3)

    Rest of World, underwritten by the Ford Foundation · Remote. Reporting from anywhere in the world except India; writers based in India are not eligible for this series. · Deadline: Rolling / undated · Award: USD 1,000 per commissioned story of 800 to 1,000 words. No application fee.

    Rest of World is in the third year of its Labor x Tech program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, commissioning reported stories on the changing nature of work at a moment of upheaval: AI tools and robotics reshaping professions at every rung of society, from self-driving cars replacing drivers to humanoid robots working alongside nurses; lay-offs across the tech industry; and the gig work model continuing to reshape traditional employment. The programme's premise is that this moment needs documenting now, in stories that help prepare society for what comes next. WHAT THEY COMMISSION: reported stories of 800 to 1,000 words from around the world on this beat, at a fee of USD 1,000 per story. WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, based on previous years: how new technology is transforming existing industries in unique ways and creating unexpected new pockets of employment; how technology is leading to significant job gain, job loss, and government responses to those trends; whether large demographic shifts are following the adoption of new technology or the arrival of new industries; how workplace technology is changing workplace dynamics; how new industries and tools are changing workers' incomes; and the expansion of the gig work model alongside the threats of automation. EXAMPLES of the kind of story they hope to commission, all previously published by Rest of World: workers in Chinese data factories teaching humanoid robots boring tasks; entry-level tech workers describing the AI-fuelled jobpocalypse; Microsoft and Google claiming their data centres create thousands of jobs while their permit filings say otherwise; AI helping judges close cases quickly and lawyers open them quickly; tech workers fuelling a mini baby boom in Taiwan's Silicon Valley; Dubai's robotaxi ambitions coming for human drivers; and the job brokers who run the lives of the migrant workers staffing Taiwan's chip plants. ELIGIBILITY NOTE: the programme is unable to commission reporting in India or from writers based in India for this series. HOW TO PITCH: send 2 to 3 paragraphs laying out the nutgraf of the proposal and explaining how the pitch fits the editorial mission of the programme. Indicate what sources will be used, whether any pre-reporting has been completed, what reporting has already been done on the topic at other outlets, and what the story contributes to the discourse. Pitches go to laborxtech@restofworld.org. Pitching is open on a rolling basis; no closing date is stated.

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