The 2021 QWF Mentorship Program

Please scroll down to see the selected mentors and mentees for the 2021 QWF Mentorship Program.

If you are a writer who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Colour, you may be eligible for The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship program.

Applications for the 2022 programs will open in the fall of 2021. Please see below for information on eligibility and updates.

The QWF Mentorship program is designed to help promising emerging writers make the transition to the next stage of their careers. Both mentors and mentees are selected by an independent jury.

Over a period of four months (February to May), each mentee gets 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 mentees present their work-in-progress.

Mentors are expected to devote 35 to 40 hours to reading and responding to their protégé’s work and giving guidance towards the goal of publication or production. Mentees are expected to commit a minimum of 15 to 20 hours per month to the program.

Timeline

Call for applications: October
Deadline for applications: November
Notification of results: December (for mentors), January (for mentees)
Mentorship period: Approximately four months (between February and June)

The Fresh Pages Initiative: The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship

The Quebec Writers’ Federation is delighted to announce the call for applications for the inaugural Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship. The mentorship, which is a component of QWF’s “Fresh Pages” initiative, is designed to help an aspiring writer or playwright who is Indigenous, Black or a person of colour to develop their literary writing.

The mentorship will go to a Quebec-based poet who has already demonstrated an interest in literary writing and who has at least ten poems completed or in progress (Other genres will be addressed in subsequent years, should funding allow.) The selected writer will work with their mentor over the course of four months (February through May, 2021 and participate in a public reading in June 2021. More information here

Pairs from left to right and top to bottom: **Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship—Fiction:** Lynda Bailey (mentee), H. Nigel Thomas (mentor); **YA Fiction**: Becca Yu (mentee), David Homel (mentor); **Fiction:** Miki Laval (mentee), Claire Holden Rothman (mentor); **Poetry**: Jess Tran (mentee), Yusuf Saadi (mentor); **Non-fiction**: Suzanne Cerreta (mentee), Robyn Sarah (mentor); **Fiction**: Geeta Johal (mentee), Leila Marshy (mentor); **Screenwriting**: Dara Murphy (mentee), Jacob Potashnik (mentor).

2021 Program Pairings

2021 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship Program – Fiction
H. Nigel Thomas is mentoring Lynda Bailey

Fiction
Leila Marshy is mentoring Geeta Johal
Claire Holden Rothman is mentoring Miki Laval

Non-fiction
Robyn Sarah is mentoring Suzanne Cerreta

Young Adult Fiction
David Homel is mentoring Becca Yu

Screenwriting
Jacob Potashnik is mentoring Dara Murphy

Poetry
Yusuf Saadi is mentoring Jess Tran

Past Mentorship Program Pairs

2020

Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship – Poetry: Gillian Sze mentored Faith Paré
Fiction: April Ford mentored Lukas Rowland; Robert Sandiford mentored Michael Foy; Non-fiction: Ian McGillis mentored Carolyn McPherson; Poetry: Mark Abley mentored Andrew Middleton; Young Adult Fiction: Sue MacLeod mentored Maureen Marovitch; Lori Weber mentored Lea Beddia.

Upcoming eventsApril events & workshops › Mentorship Reading

No matching events listed under Mentorship Reading. Please try viewing the full calendar for a complete list of events.

Mentorship