he 12th Annual Suffolk Virginia Authors Festival will take place at the Suffolk Conference Center at the Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront (100 E Constance Road, Suffolk, Virginia, 23434) Saturday, March 14, 2026! Stay tuned for more festival details and information.

In 2026, the Gloucester Arts Festival will be hosting its second Festival Book Fair on June 20th. The book fair will be located at the Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester on Main Street. This fair will be an all-day opportunity for authors to meet readers, discuss, and sell their books. The fair will be limited to twenty-five (25) local authors. Snacks and refreshments will be provided for the authors chosen to participate. Food trucks will be available for patrons and authors in front of the museum.

Fair Date: Saturday, June 20, 2026

Start Time: 1:00 PM

End Time: 5:00 PM (break down not before)

Setup Time: 12:00 PM

Break Down Time: 5:15 PM

Table Rental: $30

Please contact Mary Shipko for more information. maryshipko@gmail.com  757-570-2478

The thirteenth annual Chesapeake Writers’ Conference will be held from June 21 to June 27 on the St. Mary’s College campus in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. The Conference features daily Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Youth Workshops (the latter for high school-age writers) and a dynamic schedule of lectures, craft talks, readings, and panel discussions. Recent workshop faculty include Heather Green, Phillis Levin, Patricia Henley, Jerry Gabriel, Matt Burgess, Angela Pelster, Eva Freeman, Robin McCullough, Melissa Scholes-Young and Nadeem Zaman. There is no application fee. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; registration is ongoing on a first-come, first-served basis until we reach capacity. See the Fees & Registration page for more information.

We are pleased to host a one-day writing conference, entitled Write Now!, each spring at the McKimmon Conference and Training Center (1101 Gorman Street) on the campus of NC State University in Raleigh. The conference traditionally offers two tracks of programming that provide both novice and established writers access to editors, nationally published writers, and other industry professionals.Our next event will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Doors open at 8:00 a.m., the conference begins promptly at 9:00 a.m. with the opening keynote, and ends at 4:15 p.m. after the concluding keynote. 

Follow live tweets leading up to and from the event - #TAFWriteNow2026.

2026 details:
*Early* registration runs Feb. 1 through Apr. 15 for $109. Students & senior citizens can register for just $99 with a valid ID.*Late* registration runs Apr. 16 through May 14 at 5:00 p.m. for $119.*Walk-in* registration will be available on conference day for $125.

Mark your calendar for March 23-29, 2026, when you can enjoy a full week of totally bonkers, fully free and accessible video workshops.

Since this is just the teaser and I can't gush (yet) about the awesome, incredible, amazing stuff we have planned, here's a taste of what we're looking forward to:

• step-by-step guides

• how your life helps you write

• what even is it

• all the genre stuff

• cobbling your ideas into a thing

• sharing that thing

• selling that thing

• how, when, where, and why

• ...and MULTIPLE PANELS!

Look for the 2026 presenter + presentation information in November and join us March 23-29, 2026 on our YouTube channel. You might even catch some presenters in Discord!

Massive thanks to S.E. Reed, who, as usual, did most of the work reaching out to these delightful volunteers.

Stipends Available

COURSES STARTING IN JULY

Click on the course you would like to take, to view the individual dates and times under the header "schedule."  Pick from any of the courses below.

3-week classes:

• The Poetic Experience: A Writing Workshop

• Fiction Writing Workshop

• Creative Nonfiction: Crafting Personal Narratives

Have a question? Contact us at admissions@aup.edu

• Apply Now

Brackish Waters – A Hampton Roads Literary Anthology

Brackish Waters is an upcoming literary anthology dedicated to publishing and promoting writing that explores the diverse character and culture of the Hampton Roads region.

Writers in the Hampton Roads area are invited to submit their work for consideration.

Submissions are open until March 31, 2026.

For submission guidelines and details, visit:
https://barelysouth.submittable.com/submit

Facebook Groups that post Open Submission

Romance

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OpenSubmissionCallsForRomanceWriters

Crime, Thriller, Mystery Markets

https://www.facebook.com/groups/493431704005291

speculative Markets – Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AjNJ5P4JZ/ 

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Pulp

https://www.facebook.com/groups/440107622678110/

Horror Markets

https://www.facebook.com/groups/384615034930975/

Sci-Fi & Fantasy — We love to read tales of other worlds that reveal clearly just how strange our own actually is.

Thriller/Mystery — We are rolling horror stories into this category! We want stories that keep us up at night, that take us into the resonant fear of looming monsters and haunting ghosts. We want stories that thrill us by keeping us on the edges of our seats, hearts pounding, wondering how it will end!

Humor — We’re looking for stories that bring the humor. Satire, slapstick, the weirdness of life, and extended jokes can find a home with us. Make sure it’s fiction, and that at its heart it engages with rich characters and entertaining plots.

By submitting to Uncharted, submitters agree to receive correspondence about future publications and submission opportunities from Uncharted. You can unsubscribe at any time.

**If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.**

Uncharted does not consider or review AI-generated work. Submissions utilizing AI tools will be automatically declined.

This is a wesbiste that is all about learning to write.  However, they do hold contests. 

Contests are a great way to sharpen your submission skills, stretch your imagination, and get your work out in the world. That’s why the Institute runs adult and kidlit writing contests throughout the year. 

Each children’s book writing contest culminates in a Winners Webinars where we announce the winners and critique the winning entries to help all entrants improve their skills. Plus, each contest has cash prizes for the top five entries.

(Image from IFW website) 

NOTE: Please read all submission guidelines.  This webiste link is provided for you to help you find avenues for writing. 

Erica Verrillo has written seven books and published five. She doesn't know why anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would ever want to publish. But, if you insist on selling your soul to the devil, learn how to do it right: marketing, literary agents, book promotion, editing, pitching your book, how to get reviews, and ... most important of all ... everything she did wrong.

Dear writers of the Chesapeake Bay Writers,

My name is Layla Barnes, and I am a Virginia Beach native and a student in the creative writing MFA program at ODU.

I am writing to ask for your help in spreading the word about our upcoming literary anthology, Brackish Waters. Our mission is to publish and promote a body of literary work that celebrates and explores the varied and diverse character of Hampton Roads. We are excited to connect with creative writers in the Hampton Roads area who may be interested in submitting their work, and we hope you will consider sharing this opportunity with members of your community who may be interested.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. Submissions are open until March 31st. Interested writers should visit our submittable page at https://barelysouth.submittable.com/submit for more information.

Best,

Layla Barnes

Brackish Waters, Editor in Chief

MFA Student: Fiction

Old Dominion University