Careers

Welcome to the Creative Writing Program's Careers Page! Use this page as a starting point to find:

  • internships
  • employment opportunities
  • publishers for your creative work
  • information on MFA programs
  • writing conferences
  • writing residencies
  • other opportunities

To get started, check out:

These excellent resources cover strategies for breaking into writing-related jobs.


LIFE DESIGN

You can visit the Life Design Center at any point during your college career.  In the Radbill Center, you can explore more general topics in thinking about your studies and what comes after.  You may want to take the one-credit course, BGSU 1910: Life Design at BGSU during your first year.   

In the Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections, you can focus more on finding internships and employers who will help you apply the skills and talents you are developing as a Creative Writing major.  The Kuhlin Hub offers workshops, career expos, individual consultations, and other ways to explore opportunities.

INTERNSHIPS

To give you experience in the professional applications of your degree, the BFA degree requires that you either take Eng 3870, Literary Editing and Publishing, or complete an Internship (Eng 4890) or a Co-op (Co-op 50).  It’s certainly possible to do both, to complete an Internship or Co-op along with taking Eng 3870.

Visiting the Kuhlin Hub is a good first step toward finding an internship.  Handshake is BGSU's comprehensive search engine for internships and jobs.  To access Handshake, you must first log into you MyBGSU account and click on the Kuhlin Hub section.

Some internships are available through The Mid-American Review, BGSU's award-winning international literary magazine. Contact Abigail Cloud, Editor-in-Chief, clouda@bgsu.edu

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Handshake is a search engine for jobs as well as for internships.

The AWP – Associated Writers and Writing Programs – has a job list and other resources for writers seeking employment.  Membership required for the job list.

The Chronicle of Higher Education lists positions of various kinds at universities. 

The MLA Job List is mainly for teaching positions at universities. 


PUBLISHING

We encourage you to seek out publication opportunities for your creative work.  There are myriad venues through which you can seek publication, both online journals and in-print journals.  As a first step, you may want to consult with your faculty mentor to discuss possibilities.

You will probably need to create a Submittable account at some point.  Many publications use Submittable to receive submissions.  Other publications have different online portals.  Only a few still accept hard copy submissions.

How do you find publications which might consider your work?  Below are some possibilities:

  • Chillsubs is a good source to find places to submit.  A valuable feature of Chillsubs is that you can use filters to find publications that focus on specific genres.  So if you are writing Fantasy, for example, you can use a filter to find publications looking for Fantasy.
  • Newpages lists literary journals and contests, along with news about the literary arts.
  • Duotrope is a good source, but charges a fee after free trial.
  • Poets and Writers Magazine is the best source for Creative Writing contests.  It also has news, tips, articles about technique, interviews with writers, and writing prompts.  
  • You might also visit a Barnes & Noble bookstore, or a good independent bookstore like Literati, in Ann Arbor, see which literary journals they have in stock, and leaf through them (or buy one or two).

GRADUATE STUDIES

If you are considering graduate studies in Creative Writing, please consult your faculty mentor or with the instructor of a course in Creative Writing.  Many notable writers have received an MFA on their path to becoming published.

The AWP Guide to Writing Programs is a good searchable guide to MFA and PhD programs nationwide.  It should be your first step in focusing your search for places to apply.

WRITING CONFERENCES

Writing conferences give you a chance to hear panel discussions with published writers, visit bookfairs, possibly meet agents and editors, and connect with other writers.

The most local writing conference of all is The Winter Wheat Festival of Writing, put on at Bowling Green State University by Mid-American Review.  It takes place annually on or around Veteran’s Day.

Other easily accessible writing conferences include:

The AWP Conference is famous for its bookfair.

More writing conferences can be found through Poets and Writers or through the AWP website.

WRITER'S COLONIES

Writer's Colonies provide writers as well as artists of all sorts precious time to work. For the most part, room and board are free!   

Some of the best known are:

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just off the Pacific Ocean, a beautiful and highly rewarding place in which to work.

The Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony in Austerlitz, New York is located on the famed poet's farm--the wild blueberries in the high meadow near the barn are sublime!  

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts offers the famed seven-month winter residencies on Cape Cod.

MacDowell, near Peterborough, New Hampshire, offers a private cabin that guarantees not only absolute solitude for work but fellowship with other artists at a central lodge.

Yaddo, its Victorian mansion, and lake-laced haunts are legendary.

Ragdale, north of Chicago, offers residencies for writers and artists.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

If you are certain you want a career in publishing, you may want to consider an intensive summer institute.  Three of the best known are:


Updated: 09/06/2023 03:49PM