Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency brings in 'mentorship' programme for authors

The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency is launching a six-month mentorship programme for aspiring authors.

Seeking to "find new and exciting voices in fiction and to guide writers during the early steps of their career", the mentorship programme will cover editorial guidance and insight into getting books published including current trends, what editors look for, international rights and film & TV.

The mentorship programme will be awarded to six unagented writers across adult and children's fiction, and each will be offered representation.

The programme will be open to previously published writers; however, the work that is submitted must be original and not have been published previously.

At least one place on the mentorship scheme will be reserved for a writer from "a community under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves". This includes writers from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and LGBTQ communities, writers with disabilities. and socio-economically marginalised writers.

Madeleine Milburn said: "We are keen to offer new writers an insight into all aspects of representation and getting published from as early as possible in the creative process. We want to lay the best foundations to help writers on their path to being internationally acclaimed authors. Each mentee will be actively supported and guided by our primary agents, rights agents and film & TV department, thereby shaping their work into manuscripts with global appeal and potential across all media."

Applicants must email the first 15,000-20,000 words of their manuscript before 1st June 2020. They must also include "a line that describes what is special about your book; three comparable books in the market today; and five of your favourite writers or books". Full details on submissions can be found here.

The mentees will be announced on the 1st July 2020.