Pitches wanted from writers of colour (Scotland) | £135 per piece
Added 2025-03-05 06:23:41 +0000 UTCCOMPANY/PUBLICATION: SCOTTISH BPOC WRITERS NETWORK
Deadline: 14 March 2025
Our call for blog pitches is now live! We'd like to hear your pitches around the theme 'Sustain'. Pitches can be for posts in text, audio, or video format. All posts are paid (£135). Full info and pitching form below:
CALLOUT BRIEF:
We’re excited to be issuing our first open call for blog pitches of 2025!
For Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland.
This call for pitches focuses on the theme ‘Sustain’! We’re looking for pitches about any and all interpretations of the concept of ‘sustain’, from tradition to food to the climate crisis and anything else that comes to mind.
Each guest blogger will be asked to contribute one blog post. This will be supplemented by a commissioned post from a fellow SBWN community author. We aim to publish 3 blog posts total during this period.
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.
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 ‘sustain’ theme that falls outside this brief list, we’d love to read it!
PITCH PROMPTS:
What sustains you?
‘Sustenance’ is another word for food and drink: necessities that one must take in daily to continue surviving. What do you continually take in to keep on going? Maybe it’s a beloved dish from your childhood, or a recipe you discovered after beginning a new stage in life. Maybe it’s a story, song, poem, TV series, game, or film you keep coming back to when times are hard. Is it getting out into nature, whether here in Scotland or somewhere further away? Or is it people near and far who give you the encouragement you need?
Sustainability in action
In the face of climate crisis, sustainability is an ever more pressing concern – but what does that actually look like in daily life? How do we reframe our relationships with the environment to facilitate workable sustainability practices? What misconceptions are holding us back, and what can we do as writers to overcome that?
Traditions and the passing on of practices
How do we sustain the traditions, practices, beliefs, and/or worldviews that have been passed down to us through the generations? Does sustaining these ancestral ways of being lean more towards preservation or towards evolution? Can new technology help us to sustain these, and in what ways? For those of us who feel cut off from our ancestors, whether through circumstance or choice, what is sustained when all other supports seem to fall away?
Loss and rebuilding
The word ‘sustain’ is sometimes used in reference to loss, injury, or other adversity. How do we endure and rebuild – sometimes even thrive – after or in the midst of harms? What happens when rebuilding isn’t an option? How do we respond to the changes brought on by the losses we sustain?
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 14 March 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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