New Voices: North 2025

The Irish Writers Centre (IWC) is delighted to invite applications for New Voices: North – a new, online development programme funded by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

The first instalment in a new all-Ireland development series, New Voices: North will give five emerging writers living in the North of Ireland the opportunity to avail of the sustained mentorship of an experienced writer-mentor – in the fiction strand, novelist Jan Carson, and in the poetry strand, poet Stephen Sexton.

The programme will culminate at a live showcase hosted by the 2025 Belfast Book Festival where the selected writers will read from their developed works-in-progress.

In keeping with the Irish Writers Centre’s 2022-2026 Strategy, the New Voices programme seeks to create new opportunities, grant access and develop networks that connect writers to each other. This programme directly correlates with the objectives of Strategy Goal 2, which is to enhance opportunities for people across all communities to explore and participate in creative writing, as well as Strategy Goal 3, which is to cultivate an engaged community of writers and strategic alliances that support our ambitions.

Who is it for?

This programme is intended for ambitious, emerging writers aged 18 and over who are living in Northern Ireland. In order to be deemed eligible, it is required that applicants meet at least two of the following criteria:

• You are working on a project (e.g. a collection of short stories, a poetry collection, a novel) and require some help advancing it to the next stage
• You have been published in various literary journals and/or have participated on a number of writing courses
• You are serious about your development as a writer and believe you would benefit from the sustained guidance of an experienced writer-mentor
• You have a demonstrable interest in writing and literature and have taken some steps towards forging a career as a writer
• You have a BA / MA in a relevant subject (creative writing, English literature, journalism, etc.)
• You have taken part in a development programme such as our Young Writer Delegates Programme or National Mentoring Programme

About the programme

The Irish Writers Centre New Voices initiative is a new pilot series offering ambitious, emerging writers the opportunity to further their burgeoning writing practice via the sustained support of an experienced mentor.

Consisting of two strands – fiction and poetry – the first iteration, New Voices: North, will give five emerging writers living in the North of Ireland the opportunity to develop a new or existing work-in-progress under the guidance of an established writer-mentor.

Following this mentorship, selected writers will participate in a group workshop hosted by their respective mentor, and later will read from their developed works at a showcase hosted by the Belfast Book Festival.

Five writers will be selected for this programme: three in the fiction strand, and two in poetry. The three writers selected to participate in the fiction strand will be mentored by novelist and short-story writer Jan Carson, while the two writers selected to participate in the poetry strand will be mentored by poet Stephen Sexton.

What to expect?

1. Mentoring: Participants will be supported by an established writer-mentor in the development of a new or existing work-in-progress over the course of two months. Each participant will receive two mentoring sessions with their writer-mentor – the first in March, the second in April. Mentors will read up to 6,000 words / 240 lines of poetry in advance of each session, offering creative feedback and advice at each meeting. These mentoring sessions will take place over Zoom.
2. Creative workshop: Following the completion of their mentorships, the selected writers will participate in a creative workshop, led by their respective mentor, where they will further develop their works-in-progress in the company of their fellow strand participants. This workshop will take place over Zoom.
3. Public showcase: The programme will culminate in a public showcase, featured in the official programme of the Belfast Book Festival, where participants will read from the work they have been developing over the weeks and months prior. Please note that all participants will be required to attend the BBF showcase in-person.
4. Feedback: In exchange for having participated on the programme, the IWC will ask for feedback and evaluation to continue to improve the programme for future participants of New Voices.

Timeline

Please note that writers must be available on all the following dates to take part in the programme.

• 5 March 2025 (online): Deadline to submit first piece of work
• 12 March 2025 (online): First mentoring session
• 10 April 2025 (online): Deadline to submit second piece of work
• 17 April 2025 (online): Second mentoring session
• 10, 12 or 13 May 2025 (TBC, online): Group workshop
• 8 June (in-person): Belfast Book Festival showcase

The time of each session will be decided between mentee and mentor.

Eligibility

This programme is open to writers over the age of 18 living in Northern Ireland with a strong interest in writing, reading and an ambition to connect and contribute to the Irish literary scene.

We encourage writers from backgrounds typically underrepresented in Irish literature to apply. We particularly invite applications from Black, POC (person of colour), Traveller, Roma, LGBTQIA+, disabled and working-class writers, and those who consider themselves to be within the target groups described in the EDI Policy on our website.

How to apply?

Applicants are required to fill out a Google Form asking for the following information:

• An expression of interest outlining how you believe you would benefit from the programme (max 150 words)
• A short statement outlining your writing experience to date, writers you feel you have been influenced by, etc. (max 150 words)
• A short statement describing your current writing project(s), the challenges you are facing, where you think you require help, etc. (max 150 words)
• A writing sample (max 1,000 words) in either .docx or .pdf format
• A valid postal address and/or post code in the North of Ireland
• Your phone number and email address

Any questions? Email projects@irishwriterscentre.ie

Deadline

Wednesday 19 February, at midnight.

Please note that incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

About the mentors

Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She has published three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections. Her novel The Fire Starters won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland 2019. Jan’s latest novel, The Raptures was published by Doubleday in early 2022 and was subsequently shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her short story collection Quickly, While They Still Have Horses was published by Doubleday (UK) in April 2024 and Scribner (US) in July 2024. Her writing has been aired on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and RTE.

She is the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast 2025 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her first stage play, an adaptation of the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit, will be produced by Replay Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in March 2025. Her next novel, Few and Far Between, is forthcoming in early 2026.

Stephen Sexton is the author of two books of poems: If All the World and Love Were Young (Penguin 2019), winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and Cheryl’s Destinies (Penguin, 2021). In 2020, he was awarded the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. He teaches at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast.