National Mentoring Programme

The National Mentoring Programme is an opportunity open to all writers across the island of Ireland to receive sustained creative and professional mentoring from an established Irish writer of their choosing.

Update on National Mentoring Programme 2025

Applications for 2025

The National Mentoring Programme 2025 application process is now closed. Thank you to all who applied, we had an exceptional number of applications this year. The judging process is thorough and long. It is split into two parts; one set of judges read the writing samples and then another set of judges read the letters of intent, statements and CV’s and then both scores are combined to give the overall result. This can take up to three months. We hope to be back in touch with everyone by May or beginning of June. Please note, everyone will be notified, whether they received a mentorship place or not.

About the National Mentoring Programme

A minimum of 30 mentoring relationships are on offer every year as part of the Irish Writers Centre National Mentoring Programme. Applications for next year’s programme will open via Submittable in 2026. See below for full details and how to apply.

The opportunity is available to writers of:

  • Fiction
  • Creative non-fiction
  • Children’s / Young Adult fiction
  • Poetry

Writers from all thirty-two counties are eligible to apply. Selected mentees get the opportunity to choose the writer they work with from our growing panel of experienced, professional writers (subject to availability).

Each mentorship consists of three meetings with an experienced writer over a period of approximately 6–8 months. The mentor reads up to 10,000 words / 180 lines of poetry in advance, and will give creative feedback at each meeting. They may also provide professional information and advice.

Who are our mentors?

We currently have more than eighty professional writers to choose from on our mentoring list, made up of poets, prose writers and children’s/Young Adult writers. Most writers on our mentor list have published 3 or more books with traditional publishers and have a wealth of teaching and/or mentoring experience. Selection of mentors is always mentee-led. Mentees selections are dependent on mentor availability at any given time.

Receive Mentorship through the National Mentoring Programme

Watch video to learn more about the programme and the benefits of receiving a mentorship. Featured in this video is Brendan Mac Evilly, Past mentee, Fíona Scarlett and mentor, Joanna Walsh.

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Eligibility

This opportunity is specifically for:

  • Emerging writers who can demonstrate a commitment to writing e.g. creative writing training or courses undertaken, journal publications, awards or notable mentions, or other recognisable achievements.
  • Writers who have published one or two books and who feel they could benefit from further professional guidance and feedback on their work-in-progress.
  • Writers with 3+ book publications who have begun writing in a form in which they have yet to publish a book

Mentee opportunities are open to writers over the age of 18 who are resident on the island of Ireland.

The Irish Writers Centre encourages applications from writers whose backgrounds are typically underrepresented in Irish literature. We particularly invite applications from Black, POC (person of colour), Traveller, Roma, LGBTQIA+, disabled and working class writers.

Applicants should neither be in full-time education at the time of application, nor planning to undertake a full-time education course at the same time as their mentorship .

If you have received mentoring through this particular mentoring programme within the last three years, you are ineligible to apply.

Applications for mentees will only be accepted through Submittable. Only one submission per applicant is allowed.

Application Process

How to Apply

Applicants are asked to submit the following information through the Submittable form. The application link below is now live. Submissions close at 5pm on Sunday 2nd March 2025.

Applicants will need to submit:

  • A statement of intent outlining what project you will focus on during the mentoring process (100-200 words)
  • A statement outlining your writing style, wider literary interests, and/or books or writers you have an affinity with (50-100 words)
  • A statement of benefit outlining why and how you think you’ll benefit from mentoring (100-200 words)
  • A writer’s CV listing any previous publications, writing experience, awards or recognition, creative writing classes or mentoring. See our guide to a Writer’s CV here.
  • Sample text relating to one of the three options below:
    1. Prose Writers (fiction and creative non-fiction): Two pieces of work, approximately 2,000 words in total. One piece, up to 1,000 words, from a work you consider finished (where possible this should be from a sample of published work) and a second piece, also up to 1,000 words, from your current writing project.
    2. Poets: ONE published poem and TWO poems in progress, no more than 160 lines in total.
    3. Children’s/Young Adult Writers: Two pieces of work, approximately 2,000 words in total. One piece, up to 1,000 words, from a work you consider finished and a second piece, also up to 1,000 words, from your current writing project.

Applications will be scored through a combination of externally judged blind readings of your sample work, and an independent panel review of additional information (CVs, Statements, etc)

There is no fee for application.

In your application, please select the county you live in/or were born in as individual county arts offices/organisations sponsor mentorships in their region. If your county does not have a mentorship on offer, you can apply under the ‘All Other Counties’ option. Find full details on the programme’s supporters below.

Successful applicants are advised that, as these mentorships are made possible due to regional arts offices, they may be asked to participate in interviews with arts offices or local newspapers in order to promote the programme and celebrate writers across the regions.

Submit your application via Submittable 

Submittable is an online platform that the Irish Writers Centre uses to collect and review submissions and applications. To submit your application via Submittable, applicants will need to create a Submittable account. It’s free and easy to use but if you have any issues with Submittable, please email nmp@irishwriterscentre.ie. Applications will be acknowledged via an automatic email.

See list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Deadline: 5pm on Sunday 2nd March 2025  

Enquiries to Damien B. Donnelly at nmp@irishwriterscentre.ie  

Apply here

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:

These are: Carlow County Council, Droichead Arts Centre (Louth), Dublin City Libraries, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Arts Office, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Libraries, Fingal Arts, Galway City Arts Office, Kildare Arts Service, Kilkenny Arts Office, Limerick City & County Arts Office, Mayo Arts Office, Meath Arts Office, Offaly County Arts Office, Roscommon Arts Centre, South Dublin Arts Office, Sligo Arts Centre, The Source Arts Centre (Tipperary), Wexford Arts Office, Wicklow Arts Office and Westmeath Arts Office.

We are grateful to all the above who fund individual mentorships for writers in their county area. The Arts Council generously supports this programme by ensuring that mentorships are available to writers living in ‘All Other Counties.’

If you are a writer who is currently living in Northern Ireland, we also recommend applying for New Voices: North 2025, a new mentoring scheme supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Application deadline: Sunday 9th February 2025).

Read testimonials below

Running since 2017, the programme now has numerous published authors among its alumni, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Fiona Scarlett, Will Keohane and Victoria Kennefick to name just a few. Read testimonials from past mentees below.

 

 

The National Mentoring Programme offered me a fresh perspective on my work, and I learned so much from my mentor, Betsy who worked with me to develop scenes, clarify structure, and strengthen characters. She encouraged me to write the story I wanted to write, instead of what I thought others wanted, and set ambitious targets that forced me out of my ‘perfectionist’ mentality that was blocking progress. I would recommend the programme to any emerging writer. It is a very enjoyable and productive step towards fulfilling your dream.

Rachael O’Brien
Mentored by Betsy Cornwell, NMP 2024

My mentor, Colin Barrett, has been generous and knowledgable in answering my questions, from the mundane to the philosophical. Having a mentor gives me a sense of accountability in producing new work, and seeing my stories through Colin’s lens has been hugely helpful.

Eimear Arthur
Mentored by Colin Barrett, NMP 2024

…thank you and all at the writers centre for this mentorship. I had my final meeting with Niall Williams recently and it is very hard to do justice to how much the process has helped my writing and this novel. Niall has been simply brilliant and there is no way I would have the work where it is today without the mentoring programme. I can’t thank you and the original judges/readers enough.

Neil Tully

The mentoring scheme is a fantastic initiative by the IWC. The mentor I was paired with was flexible, encouraging and had fantastic insight. With her help I completed and edited my novel, ready for submission, in 8 months, work that would have taken me twice as long working alone.

Gemma Marren, NMP Mentee 2023

Getting one-to-one feedback on my novel from a professional author was such an invaluable experience. I am extremely grateful to the National Mentoring Programme and highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve their craft.

C.T. O’Mahony, NMP Mentee 2023

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, Mentee 2023

Early career support, visibility and recognition are crucially important for new and emerging writers, and can often mark the difference between a writer who continues writing, and a writer who doesn’t. I am fortunate to be one of those writers who was encouraged to continue writing — if it were not for my mentors, I would not be writing today. I am incredibly grateful to Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Dublin City Libraries, Words Ireland, and my mentor Gavin McCrea.

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe

Henrietta McKervey was a fantastic mentor who provided me with tons of creative and professional advice that I will be able to build on for years to come. While I still have much to do to complete my current project, I feel that the programme has provided me with the tools to take a professional approach to my work and has helped me to refine my own creative processes.

Caroline McEvoy

Wendy [Erskine’s] close reading of the stories, her thoughtful, nuanced feedback and her belief in the stories and the collection as a whole has been a gift beyond measure. She has been extraordinarily generous, insightful, thoughtful and supportive. It was an absolute joy, and privilege, from start to finish to work with Wendy this closely and in this way. A formative and transformative creative experience for me.

Sonya Gildea

I can’t actually describe how much this programme meant to me. My mentor Jan Carson gave me such confidence in myself and my work. Jan taught me the beauty in the mundane things like editing, and proper grammar- while also teaching me to trust my instincts and have fun with writing again. She was honest and fair in her criticism but was equally as honest and kind with her praise. I wouldn’t have written half the things I did without her guidance. I had the best time this year.

Rere Ukponu

Time, and close, dedicated attention: two things on which we so often compromise in our increasingly busy lives, and two things that our writing needs to stay alive. This programme is the gift of both. Long may it continue!

Catherine Gander