Words Ireland have announced the 23 lucky writers who will receive one-to-one mentoring from professional writer-mentors over the coming year. With almost 250 applications this year, the quality and ambition of applicants’ work continues to rise.
Congratulations to all recipients of the National Mentoring Programme. The successful writers are:
| Sean Tanner | Literary fiction | All Other Counties – Arts Council |
| Simon Costello | Poetry | All Other Counties – Arts Council |
| Ali Isaac | Creative non-fiction | All Other Counties – Arts Council |
| Milena Williamson | Poetry | All Other Counties – Arts Council |
| Molly Twomey | Poetry | All Other Counties – Arts Council |
| TBC | Literary fiction | Embassy of Columbia in Ireland |
| Triona Campbell | Children’s / YA | Dublin City Libraries |
| Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe | Creative non-fiction | Dublin UNESCO City of Literature |
| Kevin Graham | Poetry | Fingal Arts |
| Rachel Sneyd | Children’s / YA | Fingal Arts |
| Courtney Smyth | Children’s / YA | South Dublin Arts Office |
| Maria Kenny | Literary fiction | South Dublin Arts Office |
| Katie Martin | Poetry | South Dublin Arts Office |
| Hanahazukashi Cepeda | Literary fiction | Galway City Arts Office |
| Ruth Ennis | Children’s / YA | Kildare Arts Service |
| Kevin Conroy | Poetry | Kildare Arts Service |
| Nora Brennan | Literary fiction | Kilkenny Arts Office |
| Peter Delaney | Literary fiction | Limerick City & County Arts Office |
| Anne Walsh Donnelly | Poetry | Mayo Arts Office |
| Angela Lyons | Novel | Meath Arts Office |
| Eve McDonnell | Children’s / YA | County Wexford Arts Department |
| Amy Barry | Poetry | Roscommon Arts Centre |
| Eilish Fisher | Children’s / YA | Wicklow Arts Office |
| Natalie Ryan | Literary fiction | dlr Arts Office & dlr Libraries |
Five mentorships are available to writers living in ‘all other counties’ on the island thanks to funding from the Arts Council, who also make the administration of the National Mentoring Programme viable. The selected mentee will be announced in the near future.
All 24 mentees will work their chosen mentors, who this year include Dermot Bolger, Sarah Crossan, Sara Baume, Thomas McCarthy, Dave Rudden, Nessa O’Mahony, Peter Sirr and others to be confirmed.
This year, the Embassy of Colombia in Ireland is supporting a special, 24th, fiction mentorship with acclaimed Colombian writer Jorge Franco. This mentee will be announced in the near future. Jorge Franco will also offer an online creative writing seminar to all past and present mentees.
18 of these 23 mentorships were made possible thanks to the generous support and funding of 14 different arts offices, arts centres, libraries and literature organisations. These are:
Dublin City Libraries
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature
Fingal Arts
South Dublin Arts Office
Galway City Arts Office
Kildare Arts Service
Kilkenny Arts Office
Limerick City & County Arts Office
Mayo Arts Office
Meath Arts Office
County Wexford Arts Department
Roscommon Arts Centre
Wicklow Arts Office
dlr Arts Office & dlr Libraries
Mentors are chosen by the mentees from a growing panel of experienced, professional writers. If you’re a professional writer with three or more books published to date, and you have significant creative writing teaching or mentoring experience, contact info@wordsireland.ie to have your name added to the panel of mentors.
For more information on Words Ireland see: http://wordsireland.ie/
