01 February, 2024
Applications are now open: National Mentoring Programme 2024
Applications are now open for the Irish Writers Centre National Mentoring Programme 2024.
About National Mentoring Programme 2024
Each year, the Irish Writers Centre sets up over 30 mentorships across the island of Ireland. Writers receive sustained creative and professional mentoring from an acclaimed Irish writer of their choosing. Accepted genres/forms: literary fiction, creative non-fiction, children’s / young adult fiction and poetry. Writers living in all thirty-two counties can apply. This initiative is supported by the Arts Council and 20 arts offices/organisations in Ireland.
For more details on eligibility and how to apply, view the National Mentoring Programme webpage.
Application deadline: Saturday 2 March, 2024
Running since 2017, the programme now has numerous published authors among its alumni, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Fiona Scarlett, and Victoria Kennefick to name just a few.
“The National Mentoring Programme made me feel for the first time that I was a writer, not a pretender. Getting a book published used to feel like some far-off, impossible dream. The NMP turned that into a realistic, achievable goal and set me squarely on the path to get there.” – Brendan Fahy, NMP mentee 2023
Supporting the National Mentoring Programme
Many of the mentorships are made possible thanks to the generous support of arts offices, arts centres, libraries and literature organisations across the island of Ireland.
These are:
Carlow County Council, Dublin City Libraries, Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown Arts Office, Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown Libraries, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Fingal Arts, Galway City Arts Office, Kildare Arts Service, Kilkenny Arts Office, Limerick City & County Arts Office, Longford County Council, Mayo Arts Office, Meath Arts Office, Offaly County Arts Office, Roscommon Arts Centre, Sligo County Council, South Dublin Arts Office, The Source Arts Centre, Wexford Arts Office, Wicklow Arts Office, Westmeath Arts Office.
Arts Council funding ensures eight mentorships will be available to writers living in ‘All Other Counties’, and makes the administration of the programme viable. The Embassy of Colombia in Ireland will again support a special mentorship, whereby a selected applicant will be mentored by a professional Colombian author (tbc).
