Pitches wanted from writers of colour | ~21p+ per word
Added 2025-11-23 05:06:47 +0000 UTCCOMPANY/PUBLICATION: SCOTTISH BPOC WRITERS NETWORK
Deadline: 26 November 2025
For Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland.
Read the guidelines as a Google Doc here (view-only) or see below:
CALLOUT BRIEF:
This call for pitches focuses on the theme ‘Speaking with the ancestors’! We’re looking for pitches about any and all interpretations of this concept.
Each guest blogger will be asked to contribute one blog post. This will be supplemented by two commissioned posts from fellow SBWN community authors. We aim to publish 6 blog posts total during this period. Each selected writer will be paid £150 for a blog post of up to 700 words or up to 3 minutes of audio/video.
While all applicants must identify as Black writers or writers of colour (definition), there is absolutely no obligation to connect your pitch to ideas about race and diversity.
We especially encourage submissions from BPOC writers who are disabled, D/deaf, blind, chronically ill, or neurodivergent; are over 45 years old; are from the LGBTQIA+ community; are a parent or carer; and/or have never been published.
Please make sure you read our updated pitching guide before submitting: How to Pitch to SBWN.
We cannot accept pitches or blog posts that are created with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
If you want to pitch but are stuck for ideas, we’ve provided some prompts below. Please note that these are just starting points – if you have a pitch fitting the ‘speaking with the ancestors’ theme that falls outside this brief list, we’d love to read it!
PITCH PROMPTS:
Cultural leaders
Not just the ones we learn about in school during ‘diversity’ History Months, but those closer to home who have passed on their legacies to us. That includes trailblazers in creative arts or performance – writers, musicians, dancers, visual artists, etc – whose work has shaped you in some way. It also includes oral historians and storytellers, from the West African griot tradition to that one neighbourhood auntie who knew everyone’s life story. It includes political activists and organisers, and the elders of our local communities.
We’re especially interested in cultural leaders who aren’t big names or major public figures. Think old-school fan fiction writers (fanzines have been around since the early 20th century!), B-movie actors, underground rappers, the grandmas and grandpas who put together community festivals every year, the activists handing out leaflets as well as those at the podium. We want to hear about the ancestors who mean most to you in your life.
Erasure, invisibility, and reconstruction
We live in a time when our records, histories, and communities are actively being erased by the violence of revisionism, war, genocide, and fascism. How do we speak with the ancestors when their words are stolen from us – and where and how do we search for the words they have kept safe?
Alternately, how do we find ancestors in circumstances where people like us are almost nowhere to be found? Whether that’s in our creative pursuits, the communities where we grew up, or the groups and communities we join by choice, our pools of potential ancestors often don’t feature anyone who looks like us or can fully empathise with our marginalisations. Who, then, do we turn to as chosen ancestors? When we find ourselves in that role, what does it look like to be responsible ancestors for new BPOC creators?
Traditions and practices
Many of us come from cultural and/or spiritual backgrounds that emphasise ancestral commemoration, such as celebrations of life, ancestor worship, or giving gifts from one plane of existence to another. How do these inform concepts of ‘life’, mortality, and our relationships with our ancestors?
Passing on shared wisdom is a key part of the ancestor-descendant relationship. This might be through storytelling traditions – myths, folktales, and family histories, home remedies that predate Western medicine or through religion and spirituality, anywhere from communal organised worship to refusing to live at a house number associated with bad luck. What can our ancestors teach us, and how do those lessons influence our daily lives?
We can accept pitches in text, audio and/or video format:
Text: up to 700 words
Audio or video: up to 3 minutes
If selected or commissioned, your work can be published as text, audio, and/or video (including BSL interpretation).
HOW TO APPLY
Please only apply if you identify as a Black writer or writer of colour based in Scotland (definition).
Read our pitching guide: How to Pitch to SBWN
Apply by 26 November 2025 via this Google Form
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CONTACT INFORMATION:
Submissions: Via the webform
TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:
Learn more about the publication: The Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) is an advocacy and professional development group for Black writers and writers of colour with connections to Scotland. It offers literary events, workshops, and networking opportunities to support and promote BPOC writers. The network aims to address systemic barriers in the literary sector and foster an inclusive community for diverse literary voices. More information here.
Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.
Review the submission guidelines here.
Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.
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