Mookychick Call For Personal Essays & Creative Non-Fiction Editor

If you’d like to join Mookychick’s expanding team as a volunteer Personal Essays and Creative Non-Fiction Editor, we would love to hear from you! Application guidelines below.

A little about Mookychick…

Mookychick is a passion project founded in 2005 which has continued to evolve ever since. This alternative feminist site and community is more than the sum of its parts, thanks to its incredible community and the many hundreds of contributors who have made it what it is today.

Our patron saints include but are not limited to Kate Bush, Frida Kahlo, Marie Laveau, Greta Thunberg, Ada Lovelace, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gina Torres, Helena Bonham Carter, Jeanne d’Arc, Marie Curie, Leonora Carrington, Doctor Who and St. Hildegard of Bingen. Mookychick is like water – babbling, tranquil, charged, unquiet, delicate, ferocious, restorative and deep.

If you join our team as a Personal Essays and Creative Non-Fiction Editor, we will aim to make it a rewarding experience by raising your own visibility in the community, giving you space to rest and bloom. Want to take time out for personal reasons, or deep-dive into the role and spearhead a campaign? Simply let us know. We will accommodate your needs and listen.

What is creative non-fiction?

Creative non-fiction can take the form of…

• Essays
• Personal essays
• Articles
• Memoirs
• Prose poems
• Research papers
• Journals

Creative non-fiction is content that is creative in the sense that it has been shaped with craft, to read like a narrative or immersive journey. It is not creative in the sense that it is made-up fiction.

Personal Essays & Creative Non-Fiction Editor Job Description

We want to foster more diverse voices on Mookychick. We want to raise up the words of women, non-binary creators, writers of colour, neurodiverse writers, and disabled writers, among others. Your role will be to help our readership explore personal truths and authentic perspectives with integrity at their heart. As the Personal Essays and Creative Non-fiction Editor, you will aim to provide a haven for contributors to flourish and be heard. You will support them and be there for them when it comes to approaching their personal experiences with sensitivity and care.

Mookychick has never had a Creative Essays and Non-fiction Editor before – until now. That means you can make this role your own. You can become a focal point for all content in this area. Thanks to your welcoming approach on social media, people will be ready to reach out to you with contributions, and they know you will support their work and signal boost it once it is published, too. You look forward to being part of a writing community in this way, and potentially may already be immersed in the lit community as a proactive reader, writer and supporter of people’s writing online.

Does this sound like you? If so, please read on and we look forward to your application.

• Volunteer position
• Flexible hours
• Remote working (e.g. from home)
• Contribute, commission and edit creative non-fiction work
• Create monthly themes for calls for submission
• Support writers and readers in the Mookychick community
• Receive space for your skills, passions and ambitions to flourish
• Receive whatever training and support you need from our friendly editorial team. We are very much here for you, and no question or idea is too large or small.

Example activities:

Create and publish your own work, with support from our team. You may be an Editor, but YES, you are absolutely allowed to create your own pieces. You are a creative soul! We welcome you to craft and publish your own works as well as providing care and attention to the words of others. There is no conflict of interest. Our editors can support you in editing your work, and you can explore your own passions and write whenever you choose.

Please see our contributor submission guidelines for inspiration.

Source and commission creative non-fiction from contributors. It might help you to think of sourcing features as simply reaching out to say hello.

Perhaps you know a friend or member in your community group who has a personal experience or outlook they would like to share, and are seeking publication.

Perhaps there is an organisation or person you value, and would like to invite them to an email Q&A in which you can ask them about their passions, experiences and work.

Edit work from contributors on a rolling basis as they come in. In addition to any personal essays and creative non-fiction you personally write or source, our team will make you the first point of contact for all creative non-fiction. We will pass on any submissions of this nature that we receive, so that you can help to shape this side of the magazine and social community.

You will work remotely from home, and are always welcome to collaborate with editors Magda Knight and Juliette van der Molen, using them as a sounding board or just having a chat whenever you wish.

What we’re looking for:

• Previous editorial/writing experience is preferred.
• Previous WordPress CMS experience is preferred.
• Photo and image editing skills would be an advantage.
• An online social presence is preferred, particularly on Twitter. However, we appreciate that you can still be a fantastic editor if, for any reason, you needed to take a break from social media.
• Diverse applications are warmly welcomed.

How to apply:

Would you like to play an important part in Mookychick’s journey? To apply for this role, please email a covering letter to Magda Knight at [email protected], or use the form below. Say a little about yourself, your skills and experience, and why you’d like to join our editorial team, with links to examples of your work. If you’re from a marginalised community, we would particularly love to see your application in our inbox.

In your cover letter, it would be very helpful if you could tell us why you’d specifically like to apply for the role of Creative Essays and Non-fiction Editor and think you would be a good fit. What draws you to this genre of writing? What kind of past experience have you had of this field? In what way do you think you’d be able to inspire people to contribute, since this is a role that is being built from scratch?

We would also like to hear why, specifically, you would like to join Mookychick. Honestly, we just want to know what you think of us, and your feedback would be a real insight so we’d be honoured and grateful to hear your thoughts on this.

Finally, you are warmly invited to say one way in which you’d like to improve Mookychick. It’s not essential, but we want you to know that as a prospective Editor we value your ideas and personal, fresh perspective. Your creativity and unique energy is welcomed.

We look forward to hearing from you.