QWF is delighted to announce this year’s pairs for the QWF Writing Mentorships, the Karin L. Montin LTAC/QWF Mentorship in Literary Translation, and the Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Poetry.
The 2026 Mentorship Pairs
Fiction:
Sally Cunningham, mentored by Cecil Castellucci
Claire Dooley, mentored by Tawhida Tanya Evanson
Zakir Jamal, mentored by Elise Moser
Elena Molinari, mentored by Eva Crocker
Nonfiction:
Jessica Bakar, mentored by Annabel Howard
Poetry:
Avryl Bender, mentored by Todd Meyers
Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship in Poetry:
tina thư lê, mentored by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch
Karen L. Montin LTAC/QWF Mentorship in Literary Translation:
Valerie Amyot, mentored by Jonathan Kaplansky
About the QWF Mentorship Program
The QWF Mentorship Program is designed to help promising emerging writers and translators 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–May), each mentee 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 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.
The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship
The Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship, a component of QWF’s Fresh Pages Diversity Initiative, is designed to help an aspiring Quebec-based writer who is Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour to develop their literary writing. It is held annually, rotating between genres each year.
Learn more about the Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship.
The Karin L. Montin LTAC/QWF Mentorship
The Karin L. Montin LTAC/QWF Mentorship in Literary Translation is intended for literary translators working from French to English. A joint initiative between QWF and the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada (LTAC), it is held every even-numbered year. The Jean Antonin Billard LTAC/QWF Mentorship in Literary Translation, which is for literary translators working from English to French, is held in odd-numbered years.
Learn more about the LTAC/QWF Mentorships in Literary Translation.