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Jewish Book Week announces cohort for Emerging Writers' Programme
A new cohort of emerging writers has been chosen for the Genesis Jewish Book Week Programme.
Running for the second time, the programme is open to emerging writers over 18 years of age and living in the UK with no more than three years’ experience of being published, who feel they would benefit from the support and insight of a more established writer. The 10 writers receive mentorship from authors, bursaries of up to £1,500 and are able to attend seminars on their craft.
Among subjects explored by this year’s intake is a study of dirty money in the art world, poems on the female body in pain, and a contemporary take on Thomas Hardy.
Other works include the story of four young legal graduates who took on the establishment to allow women to become lawyers in the early 20th-century, a short collection as told by queer British Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent and a novel exploring issues of identity, sisterhood and influencer culture.
The writers in the non-fiction category—Caroline Gardiner, Tilly Rubens and Aaron Taylor—will be mentored by journalists Bidisha, Anne Sebba and Dominic Selwood respectively.
In poetry Oakley Flanagan, Rachel Lewis, Amelia Loulli and Natalie Perman will be supported by poets Wayne Holloway-Smith, Ruth Padel, Clare Pollard and Jack Underwood. For fiction, Amy Abrahams, Helen Bain and Leeor Ohayon will work with authors Charlotte Mendelson, Ashley Hickson-Lovence and Philip Hensher.
Founder and chairman of the Genesis Foundation John Studzinski said: “The Genesis Foundation is pleased to partner with Jewish Book Week for a second year on the Genesis Emerging Writers’ Programme. The topics tackled by this new cohort of emerging writers are promising in their relevance, diversity and complexity. The mentor/mentee relationship is vital to an artist’s development and Jewish Book Week have selected outstanding mentors to guide this new group of writers in their work. This project goes to the heart of what we have been doing for 20 years: supporting and nurturing creative and emerging talent.”
The programme will run over the next 10 months including a panel discussion at Jewish Book Week, held at Kings Place, London, next March.
