The Mentorship Program

Application deadline to the Mentorship Program 2010/11 is 5 p.m. Friday, September 10, 2010.

All applicants will be notified of the jury's decisions by the late Fall, 2010.

The Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia invites applications from writers who wish to be considered for apprentice positions in the 2010/11 mentor program for emerging Nova Scotia writers.

This program is designed to address the needs of developing writers who are committed to their writing and creative development. This is not an introductory creative writing course; it is an intensive, hands-on opportunity intended to provide a disciplined and focused period of work during which developing writers may stretch and hone their craft in a supportive environment. The program is designed to be of support to writers who are on the cusp of professional publication.

The Fed welcomes applications from writers working in all disciplines, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, writing for children and young adults, and short fiction. The selection of the apprentices will be made by a jury of established writing professionals who will then match successful candidates with appropriate senior writers in this region. The decisions of this jury will be final.

• How to Apply

There is no application form. To be eligible for this program, writers must provide the following information and materials. Applications must be typewritten, double-spaced, on one side of standard 8½ x 11 paper. DO NOT STAPLE your application. DO NOT SEND more material than is required. Apprentice applicants must be at least 19 years old.

In addition to supplying us with a 10 page sample of work in the genre in which you propose to work (samples that are longer than the requested 10 pages will be truncated at 10 pages), please send us a short cover letter (complete with postal address, email and phone number where you may be reached during business hours) that addresses the following (don't squander on a quire of paper what can be reduced to a glittering paragraph):

• How long have you been writing? Summarize your writing activity for the past twelve months.
• Provide an outline of what you specifically propose to work on during the mentorship period.
• Give a description of the work you'll have available for the mentorship (i.e. number of poems, written, number of pages completed of your fiction or prose manuscript).
• What goal have you set yourself to try and achieve during the relatively short time available (approximately five months)? Be specific.
• Are you willing and able to make writing a priority during the full course of the program? If not, please don't apply.
• Why do you need to participate in the mentor program?

• Time Period

Participants will work together over a fairly flexible five month period starting in the late Fall. Apprentices will be matched with mentors. WFNS provides an honorarium to the senior writer to work with the apprentice, who agrees to contribute time, work and effort without financial compensation during the mentorship period. At the conclusion of the mentoring cycle, emerging writers will participate in a celebratory public reading at the Federation.

Applications must be received by the Writers' Federation by 5:00 pm on September 10, 2010. These applications must include a $25 application fee. Faxed and e-mailed materials will not be accepted. Address your applications to Mentoring at the Fed, WFNS, 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS, B3H 4P7. For further information, please call our office at 423-8116.

This program would not be possible without the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.