The 2026 Riddle Fence Contests open March 15, 2026
FICTION
Billy-Ray Belcourt is from the Driftpile Cree Nation in northwest Alberta, Treaty 8 territory. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Alberta. He is the author ofThis Wound is a World, NDN Coping Mechanisms, A History of My Brief Body, A Minor Chorus, Coexistence, and, most recently, The Idea of an Entire Life. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.
POETRY
Karen Solie grew up in rural southwest Saskatchewan. She is the author of six collections of poems. Her latest, Wellwater (2025), won the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, co-won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and was shortlisted for the PEN Heaney Prize. A 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, Karen teaches in the autumn semester for the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and works the rest of the year in Canada. She is this year’s Shaftesbury Creative Writer in Residence for Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
CONTEST DETAILS:
$1000 GRAND PRIZE & PUBLICATION IN RF #59
DEADLINE: APRIL 30, 2026
All contests are open to Canadian residents only.
ENTRY FEE: $29. All fees are in Canadian dollars and include a one-year subscription to Riddle Fence.
Free entry! for BIPOC contest submissions. Just self-identify upon entry.
Contest entries must be anonymous. Do not identify yourself on your actual submission.
Parameters:
One short-fiction submission is one story, maximum 5000 words.
One poetry submission is up to 3 poems; no more than 100 lines per poem.
General contest rules:
An entry consists of one submission in one genre. Multiple entries are allowed; however, each entry must be accompanied by its own entry fee.
Please note: Entries must be original and unpublished elsewhere. No simultaneous submissions and no previously published (or accepted for publication) submissions. Work that is written, co-written, created, or assisted by AI is not eligible.
Judging for the contest is anonymized. Do not identify yourself on your actual submission. Please note that any submissions that include name identification will be disqualified, and fees will not be refunded.
Every paid entry fee gets a free subscription. Want to give your contest subscription as a gift to someone? No problem — please indicate the intended address on your form.
Contest winners and honourable mentions will be contacted directly by email in late summer 2026. Other entrants are not directly contacted about the results.
Winners and honourable mentions will be published in Riddle Fence #59.