The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship for Underrepresented Writers

The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship, which is a component of QWF’s Fresh Pages Diversity Initiative, is designed to help an aspiring writer or playwright working in English who is Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour to develop their literary writing.

Over a period of four months, the selected writer receives one-on-one guidance and support from a professional writing mentor. At the end of the mentorship period, there is a public reading at which the mentee will present their work in progress.

The selected writer receives an $800 honorarium and a free one-year membership in QWF.

Mairuth Sarsfield (1925-2013) was born and raised in the Little Burgundy district of Montreal. She achieved distinction in every arena she entered: as a best-selling novelist and a journalist; working for Canada’s External Affairs Department at home and abroad; serving as press secretary for the Canadian delegation to the United Nations and as a senior information officer for the United Nations Environment Programme based in Nairobi, Kenya. She also served on the Board of Directors of the CBC. Among the many awards and honours she received are the Chevalier à l’Ordre National du Quebec, the National Congress of Black Women Foundation’s First Literary Award for her novel No Crystal Stair, and the declaration of “Mairuth Sarsfield Day” by the City of Cleveland for her work on the “For Every Child a Tree” environmental campaign, which led to thousands of tree-planting projects around the world.

These accomplishments were nothing short of remarkable for any woman in twentieth-century North America. The fact that Mairuth Sarsfield achieved them, and more, as a Black woman, ensures her role as an inspiration for all future generations of young people from marginalized communities. With this mentorship program, the Quebec Writers’ Federation is proud to shine a spotlight on Ms. Sarsfield’s life and contributions to her city, her country, and the world.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must live in Quebec, write in English, and be Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour.
• Applicants should have already demonstrated an interest in creative writing and have at least one or two literary works finished or in progress.
• Applicants must be able to devote at least 10 hours a week to their writing during the months of February to May 2024.
• There is no age or publication requirement.
• Preference will be given to those who are not currently enrolled in a graduate writing program or working with a professional editor or publisher.

2024 Timeline:

• Call for applications: September 20, 2023
• Deadline for applications: October 16, 2023
• Notification of results: December 2023
• Mentorship period: February to May 2024
• Public reading: June 2024

How to Apply:

Send the following to [email protected] or mail it to or drop it off in the QWF office (address below).

• a cover letter describing the writing you’ve done so far and how the mentorship would make a difference in your writing life (maximum one page);
• a 5- to 10-page sample of your writing drawn from one or two works in progress, at least one of which should ideally be the project you want to work on with the mentor;
• a short statement about your background and writing experience, including the reason you are eligible for this initiative;
• your full name and a way to contact you.

Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship
Quebec Writers’ Federation
1200 Atwater Ave., Suite 3
Westmount, QC  H3Z 1X4

The 2024 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentor

Raquel Rivera is a writer, performer, and author of books for children and teens.

Based in Montreal since 1999, she’s published five books for young readers. Prior to this she lived and worked as a copywriter in Washington DC, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore and taught English as a Second Language in Barcelona.

She also writes about books for Constellations, The Quebec Ministry of Education’s hardcopy library and online database of quality children’s and YA literature—selected by educators, for use by teachers, librarians, and the public.

Since 2019, Raquel has been working as a teaching artist in Quebec schools through ArtistsInspire (see her profile at artistsinspire.ca/artist/raquel-rivera/) and as a writing mentor for elementary and secondary students with the Blue Metropolis Quebec Roots program and its annual publication, The Place I Want to Be. 

Raquel is a first-generation Canadian of Puerto-Rican and Irish-American descent, and a longstanding learner of Indigenous history and culture of the Americas. Her writing and performance work explores the cooperation of cultures; no doubt the result of being raised in a mixed-culture home, in the context of yet another, dominant culture. 

The 2024 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentee

Santiago Eastman Herrera is a Colombian ex-DREAMer who is now (happily) working on his Canadian citizenship. He’s currently finishing a double major in English Literature and Creative Writing while acting as the Managing Content Creator for Soliloquies Anthology. In terms of literature, he’s most interested in what makes people tick: class and racial inequalities, different experiences in the LGBTQ+ community, and the crunchy bits that appear when they all mix.

2023 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Screenwriting

Mentor: Alain Zaloum

Mentee: Victoria Platel

2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Non-Fiction

Jurors: Rana Bose, Randy Kritkausky, Anahita Jamali Rad

Mentor: Tara McGowan-Ross

Mentee: Chanel M. Sutherland

2021 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Fiction

Jurors: Oonya Kempadoo, Dimitri Nasrallah, Robert Edison Sandiford

Mentor: H. Nigel Thomas

Mentee: Lynda Bailey

2020 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Poetry

Jurors: Tanya Evanson, Kaie Kellough, H. Nigel Thomas

Mentor: Gillian Sze

Mentee: Faith Paré