Announcement.
The Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme supports unpublished, underrepresented fiction writers as they work to establish themselves as authors.
Submissions for the Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme 2024 open on 9 September 2024 and close on 15 October 2024. If you are a debut fiction writer based in the UK from a background underrepresented in publishing – we want to read your stories! All you need to submit is 2,000 words of an unpublished short story or novel written for adults and a 500-word synopsis. It can be in any genre except poetry.
All entries can be submitted via this page – the link will go live on 9 September.
What’s on offer is not a book deal, but instead a year-long mentorship with a Bloomsbury editor who will help you develop your work further, and help you on your path to publication.
Here is how it works ✏️
Each longlisted writer will receive feedback from a Bloomsbury editor and have the chance to revise their piece ahead of a mentorship party, where the longlisted writers will read their pieces in front of a crowd of editors, agents and well-wishers. These pieces will be printed in an anthology and given to agents and editors. Each longlisted writer will also receive access to a writing course with Curtis Brown Creative.
The winner will be announced after the party.
Dates
- Open for submissions: Monday 9 September 2024
- Closed for submissions: Tuesday 15 October 2024
- Longlist announced: Monday 3 February 2025
- Workshop day: Tuesday 25 February 2025
- Mentorship party: Tuesday 6 May
Meet the judges
Meet the judges
Tom Benn
Tom Benn is an award-winning author, screenwriter and Associate Professor in Crime Writing at UEA. His first novel, The Doll Princess, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Portico Prize, and longlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey Dagger. He won runner-up prize in the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, and his essays and fiction have appeared in Granta and the Paris Review. His first film, Real Gods Require Blood, premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Film at the BFI London Film Festival. His fourth novel, Oxblood (Bloomsbury), was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, the CWA’s Gold Dagger, and won the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. He has new fiction forthcoming in The Book of Manchester and Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror.
Image credit: Martin Figura
Meet the judges
Oliviyah Bain
Oliviyah Bain is a passionate bookseller, musician and activist based in Brighton. As the manager of the award-winning Afrori Books, she is dedicated to promoting diversity in the publishing and bookselling industry. Oliviyah believes in the power of stories to change the world and is committed to ensuring that voices from all backgrounds are heard and celebrated.
When she’s not managing the bookstore, Oliviyah is deeply involved in community activism, working to create inclusive and equitable spaces for everyone. She loves music and finds joy in sharing her favourite tunes with friends and family. You’ll find Oliviyah organising events that benefit marginalised communities, or listening to music and reading on the beach.
Oliviyah shares, ‘I am so excited to be taking part in Bloomsbury’s Mentorship Programme! I can’t wait to read some new stories and to discover some incredible talent!’
Meet the judges
Seren Adams
Seren Adams worked at Granta and Foyles followed by nine years at United Agents. In 2024, she co-founded Lexington Literary, an independent agency dedicated to exceptional and ambitious writing. She represents an inclusive list of authors of literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, and many of her clients have been nominated for or won prizes for their work.
Image credit: Sophie Davidson
Eligibility
- Writers 18 and older are eligible to apply.
- Writers must be residents of/based in the United Kingdom, regardless of their citizenship status.
- Applicants must be un-agented, and must not have published, or have received a contract to publish, a full-length work of fiction as of 15 October 2024. However, they may have had work published in literary magazines and journals, whether in print or online.
- You cannot submit a piece that has already been published in any form.
- Applicants from underrepresented backgrounds are eligible to apply. We welcome applications from people of colour, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those living with a disability, and members of the LGBTQ+ community/queer communities.
How to apply
All entries must be made via our submissions portal, linked below. This form asks for basic identifying information, and will allow you to upload your entry. The entry should conform to the guidelines set out below.
- Upload a short story or novel excerpt not longer than 2,000 words and a short synopsis of 500 words in the same document. This should be titled the name of your work.
- All work is being judged blind: please do not include your name or other identifying information, like an email address, on the submission itself. Submissions that identify the author will be disqualified.
Longlisted writers for the Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme 2023–2024
- Hosanna – Alice McCusker
- Caitlin – Anna Carling
- I Have it All Here, in Red, Blue, Green – Anon
- In the Blood – Bartholomew Eboseremen
- Botanique – Debora Maite Bottino
- No Reply – Dipika Mummery
- Sumintra – Helen Hosein
- These Won’t Merk Me Either – Inigo Laguda
- Please Like – June Helen Tuesday
- Small Doses – Lauryn Mwale
- Visage – Leo Lucas
- White Globe – Max Gorse
