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.

A minimum of 35 mentoring relationships are on offer and applications open via Submittable on Friday 31 February 2025 and close on Sunday 2 March at 5pm. 

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 and advice at each meeting. They may also provide professional information and advice. 

Who is it for?

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 literary form in which they have yet to publish a book.

Eligibility

The National Mentoring Programme is open to writers over the age of 18 and who are resident on the island of Ireland, meaning writers from all thirty-two counties are eligible to apply.

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.
 

How To Apply 

Applicants are asked to submit the following information via the Submittable form:

• 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 max)
• 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:

Option 1: Prose writers (fiction or 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 previously published work). A second piece, also up to 1,000 words, from your current writing project. Do not include your name in the sample text file, or anywhere in this document.

Option 2: Poets: One published poem plus two poems in progress, no more than 160 lines in total. Do not include your name in the sample text file, or anywhere in this document.

Option 3: Children's writers/ Young Adult Writers: 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. Do not include your name in the sample text file, or anywhere in this document.

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, local newspapers or even local writing communities in order to promote the programme and celebrate writers across the regions.

Applications will be scored through a combination of externally judged blind readings of your sample work, and an Irish Writers Centre panel review of the additional information you provide.

See list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Deadline: 5pm on Sunday 2nd March 2025 

Enquiries to nmp@irishwriterscentre.ie