Asian Women Writers mentorship scheme launches

An international network, providing free mentorship to unpublished women of Asian heritage, has launched.

Asian Women Writers focuses on celebrating "all cultures contained in the Asian continent", with mentors including leading UK and US-based literary agents, alongside editors from HarperCollins.

The scheme accepts submissions from unagented authors writing in English with novels or non-fiction books that are in progress. So far, mentees with Turkish, Chinese and Filipino backgrounds are currently on the scheme, while mentors with Indian, Singaporean, Bahraini, Burmese and Armenian heritage are participating. The network currently has 29 professionals on board, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Confirmed mentors include non-fiction specialist literary agent Emma Bal and Hayley Steed from Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency; HQ Stories publishing director Manpreet Grewal; HarperCollins editorial director Phoebe Morgan; and Zoe Ross from United Agents. 

Candidates can apply for three different tiers of support, depending on where they are in their writing project. A consultation will provide the opportunity to meet a mentor, discuss and receive feedback on a pitch, and to assess specific aspects of a candidate’s work, including structure, voice and pacing.

Ongoing mentoring will involve a monthly meeting over three to four months to help bring a writing project to completion, working on the initial 10,000 words of the project and planning its next steps.
A submission assessment will involve a mentor assisting with final edits to a manuscript proposal and providing feedback on the synopsis, cover letter and first three chapters of the novel or non-fiction work.

In a joint statement, Steed and Bal said: "We and our colleagues at the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency are thrilled to be working with Asian Writers Workshop on their upcoming mentorship programme. These initiatives are incredibly valuable and revitalising for the publishing world, and we cannot wait to discover and mentor new voices from the Asian community of women."

Applications are open and are assessed on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply with a letter introducing themselves and their writing project, in addition to either a 10,000-word sample of the novel they are writing with a one-page synopsis, or a 2,000-word proposal of a non-fiction work.