The 2026 Fresh Pages Editorial Mentorship is now open to applications.
For this year, the selected candidate will work with Translation Editor Nicola Danby to curate the translation section of carte blanche‘s 55th issue. The deadline to apply is May 20, 5:00 p.m. ET.
A component of QWF’s Fresh Pages Diversity Initiative, the Editorial Mentorship at carte blanche is a temporary, part-time, paid opportunity designed to help an aspiring literary artist who is Black, Indigenous, or a person of colour develop skills in selecting and editing work for a literary journal.
Learn about editing literary magazines and help curate a special section of the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s online literary magazine, carte blanche.
Each year, the mentorship goes to a Quebec-based writer who shows promise and has demonstrated an interest in the chosen genre, but who has not yet had an opportunity to work as an editor.
The editorship provides:
- Approximately 15 hours of mentorship
- An $800 honorarium
- A free one-year membership in the Quebec Writers’ Federation
The 2026 Mentor
Nicola Danby is a French-English translator with a BA (Honours) in Traduction et Stylistique from McGill University and an MA in Translation from York University. She has indulged her love of words through various positions: lecturer, teacher, revisor, translator, bookseller, and librarian, to name a few. Translation Editor at carte blanche for over a decade, and literary translator in her own right, she was a member of the Translation Jury for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards. She has been President of the Literary Translators’ Association Canada, and has worked with a range of translators and authors consulting on their writing. She lives in Montréal with her family.
It was such a pleasure to work under the mentorship of Greg Santos as the Fresh Pages guest editor at carte blanche this autumn. It was such a rich experience that taught me a lot about the curatorial process—something that I was completely new to. I am so grateful to have been offered this mentorship with the help of Quebec Writers Federation. I am so happy that learning opportunities like this exist for BIPOC writers and creatives to explore the literary publication process.
Mahta Riaza, 2022 editorial mentorship
2025 Program – Photography
Guest Editor: Sarra Mirghani
carte blanche Photography Editor: Shaney Herrmann
2024 Program – Managing Editor
Guest Editor: Rachel Chin
carte blanche Managing Editor: Zoe Shaw
2023 Program – Fiction
Guest Editor: Gabrielle Cole
carte blanche Fiction Editor: Liana Cusmano
2022 Program – Poetry
Guest Editor: Mahta Riazi
carte blanche Poetry Editor: Greg Santos
2021 Program – Non-Fiction
Guest Editor: Poonam Dhir
carte blanche Non-fiction Editor: Jenny Ferguson
2020 Program – Poetry
Guest Editor: Carolin Huang
carte blanche Poetry Editor: Marcela Huerta
