Summer Mentoring Opportunity

I'm taking on three mentees of colour this summer. Details to apply within.

Dear all,

I was mentored at an early stage in my career. It gave me everything, from confidence to a network to a shoulder to cry on to professional advice to writing support. I really believe it can change a writer’s life. I usually mentoring three people a week, a mixture of early draftees and writers moving from one form to another, in 4-6 week bursts, depending on what they need.

So, this summer, I’m planning to take on three new writers of colour to mentor. I will mentor one in June, one in July and one in September (sorry, August I’m not around much). It’ll be one hour, on a Friday (either 10am-11am or 12-1 depending on what suits you), on zoom for four weeks.

Ideally I’m looking for writers who are working on either a novel for adults or for teenagers. We will spend four weeks talking about structure, character, setting, dialogue, editing and your next steps for getting the manuscript finished. Also, we’ll cover anything else you see as relevant.

This is FREE. All I ask is that you make the dates and do the work. That’s it. In return, I’ll read your work, share my knowledge and experience, my networks and my thoughts on the work itself.

The dates are:

Mentor 1: 18/6/21, 25/6/21, 2/7/21, 9/7/21

Mentor 2: 16/7/21, 23/7/21, 30/7/21, 6/8/21

Mentor 3: 3/9/21, 10/9/21, 17/9/21, 24/9/21

This is open to writers of colour in the UK, at any stage, any age. If you wish to be considered for these mentorships, please can you contact me here with the subject line ‘Summer Mentoring’. In the email, tell me about yourself in 50 words, tell me about the novel you wish to work on during our mentorship in 50 words and tell me what you want to get out of the mentoring in 50 words. That’s it. Nothing else. NOTHING ELSE. I will only consider applications that follow the above instructions. Your message needs to arrive before 5pm on 23rd May. I will contact the successful mentees the following week. Everyone else, sorry. (The reason for these various hoops to jump through is that I’ll be admin-ing this all myself and this’ll make it easier to sift through everyone.) I’m not looking for the person with the biggest profile or the coolest idea. I’ll be judging this on how much I think I can help you.

I think that’s everything. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.

Thanks and I hope these mentorships are of use to people.

best

Nikesh