Opportunities for Underrepresented Writers
In an effort to pay it forward, I’ve started compiling a number of opportunities that I hope will help other underrepresented aspiring authors and publishing professionals further their careers. I’ve done my best to list things like scholarships, mentoring schemes, courses, talent schemes and open calls for those from marginalised communities.
A few things to keep in mind before you read:
The opportunities are not listed in any kind of order. They’re split out according to geographical location but beyond that, I’ve not segmented them.
I have tried to write a brief description of each opportunity, but please always check the actual page for official rules, eligibility, dates, and deadlines (pages are linked in the titles!)
Some of the deadlines have passed but please do check back on opportunities you’re keen to pursue, as a number of them are offered on a regular (usually annual) basis - use the time now to prep your work for when submissions re-open.
Finally, please note that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. I am aware that it focuses on writing in English, that it’s heavy on opportunities for writers of colour and not as much for other underrepresented communities and that there are a lot of listings for the UK & Ireland and not as many for other countries. But I will continue to add to this list whenever I can, so if you know of an opportunity, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page and I will add it when I’m able. Thanking you in advance!
Opportunities available irrespective of location:
Curtis Brown Creative - The Breakthrough Writers’ Programme
Curtis Brown Creative is running a number of schemes for underrepresented writers. First up: A 5 day novel writing intensive course for Black writers (it’s free!). Next is the Breakthrough Mentoring Programme: it’s a nine-month fully funded mentoring programme providing expert tuition and guidance from published authors and agents. They are running two cohorts, one for Black Writers and one for Low-Income Writers (check the link for full details). They also have (at the time of posting this) four different scholarships on offer (I’ve highlighted one specifically for Black writers below). Selfishly, I am really proud to see this because this is where I studied and I cannot recommend them enough.
Black Girl Writers Mentoring Programme
Black Girl Writers is a free mentoring programme for Black women who write. They pair Black women with a range of industry professionals, including bestselling authors and internationally renowned literary agents. They also host online workshops throughout the year.
The Madeleine Milburn Mentorship Programme
Offered to six writers, this is a six-month mentorship programme for aspiring authors. As part of the mentorship, the agency provides editorial guidance and insight into publishing. The mentorship programme will be awarded to six writers across the genres of adult and children’s fiction, and each mentee will be offered representation. At least one place on the mentorship will be reserved for a writer from a community underrepresented on the nation’s bookshelves. This includes writers from BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) and LGBTQ communities, writers with disabilities and socio-economically marginalised writers. This opportunity is open to un-agented writers over 16 anywhere in the world.
The Clare Mackintosh Scholarship for Black Writers
Author Clare Mackintosh is generously sponsoring a place on Curtis Brown Creative’s Six Month Novel Writing Course. It features direct input from CB’s literary agent team and top publishers and also comes with mentoring from Clare herself. The course normally costs £2,600, so a VERY GOOD DEAL if you get this scholarship!
Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Colour Award
This is an annual grant for an emerging writer of colour, intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, and retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work.
#DVpit is a free Twitter event created to showcase pitches from un-agented, marginalised voices that have been historically underrepresented in publishing. Please check out the website for all the rules and dates (it happens twice a year) but essentially, you tweet your book synopsis with appropriate hashtags and then if an agent likes your pitch, you are invited to send it to them. Lots of book deals have come out of this event and they also have #DVart (for illustrators and artists) and #DVcon (a free virtual writers conference). Literary agent Beth Phelan (the creator, moderator and host) and her team are amazing, amazing, amazing - kind of like the fairy god-people of book dreams.
Australia
Boundless Indigenous Writers Mentorship Programme
Writing NSW and Text Publishing present the Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship. This program pairs an emerging Indigenous writer from anywhere in Australia with a senior Indigenous writer for a structured year-long mentorship. It’s awarded annually to an unpublished Indigenous writer who has made substantial progress on a work of fiction or non-fiction.
Penguin Random House Australia Write It Fellowship
Write It aspires to find, nurture and develop unpublished voices across all genres (fiction and non-fiction for both adult and young reader age groups), focusing on writers from a socio-economically marginalised background, LGBTQ+, Indigenous or CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) writers, or writers with a disability. Please note that it doesn’t look like the website has been updated since 2019, so I’m not sure if this program is still running!
black&write! Writing Fellowships
The black&write! Writing Fellowships are open to all writers (published and unpublished) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent currently living in Australia. Fellows can submit adult fiction, YA fiction, short story collections, poetry collections and children’s book manuscripts.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction. The Award is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples currently living in Australia. The winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.
Canada
The Writers’ Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets invite Black, Indigenous, and racialized emerging writers from the Toronto and Vancouver areas to connect with industry professionals, funding officers, and established authors.
ECW Press BIPOC Writers Mentorship Programme
ECW is an independent North American publisher. The goal of this program is to find and nurture upcoming writers from BIPOC communities and equip them with tools and information to navigate the industry, submission process, and publishing process. Each successful writer will be paired with a freelance Black, Indigenous, or racialized editor, or an ECW Press editor who has extended experience editing the genre of the writer’s work. The program is only open to writers currently living in Canada.
Diaspora Dialogues invites submissions from emerging writers with a full or near-full draft of a manuscript. They accept novels, short story collections, creative non-fiction/memoir, works intended for young adults and poetry to be mentored on their Long and Short Mentorship Schemes. Both schemes are closed for submissions as of Jan 2021, but as with many of these listings, keep checking the website, as I’m sure they will re-open later in the year. Or you can sign up to their mailing list to be notified of when it re-opens.
This is a fantastic mentorship and publishing opportunity for Indigenous, Black writer, or writers of colour, who are over the age of 50 living in Canada. The vast majority of mentoring schemes I see are focused on helping the younger generation. Yet there are so many writers who didn’t start writing until they were 50 or older.
UK & Ireland
Penguin UK’s WriteNow Mentoring Programme for Writers from Underrepresented Communities
This is one of the most successful mentoring schemes out there - a number of former participants have gone on to secure publishing schemes. Writers attend a workshop which includes insights from editors, literary agents and other industry professionals and the chance to get feedback from a Penguin editor. Participants also have the change to join the WriteNow year-long mentoring programme.
Killer Women - Mentoring Scheme for Female Crime Writers
Killer Women is an initiative that supports emerging female crime writers from BAME and working-class/low income backgrounds. Four women seeking to write crime fiction are mentored by four successful, published authors over the course of one year. They also receive access to workshops and lectures by other authors, and both The Good Literary Agency and HQ (HarperCollins imprint) will read and give feedback on work.
Killing It: The Killer Reads Competition
HarperFiction launched this new competition in Jan 2021 with a goal of pushing open doors for crime writers who need a way into the publishing industry. Send the first 10,000 words of your crime, thriller or suspense novel, a short synopsis, and a short paragraph about yourself. Although open to all, they are encouraging submissions from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic writers in particular.
Faber & Faber and the Andlyn Literary Agency created the Faber Andlyn (FAB) Prize to help discover new writers and illustrators from underrepresented backgrounds. This Prize is focused on finding children’s authors and illustrators.
Megaphone offers a year of 1:1 mentoring and group masterclasses to people of colour writing a novel for children or young adults.
Bookouture, The Asian Writer and Dahlia Books
Bookouture, in association with The Asian Writer and Dahlia Books, put an exclusive call-out in August 2020 for commercial fiction submissions from un-agented and unpublished BAME writers. Although the scheme is now over, I am putting the link here in the event that they run it again in 2021. They offer professional editorial feedback on the synopsis and first three chapters of your work in progress. You can also submit your (completed and edited!) novel anytime through Bookouture’s regular submissions page.
This prize was started by Candice Carty Williams who was frustrated with the lack of opportunities in publishing for underrepresented voices. It’s open to Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers who have been historically marginalised by UK publishers, and is sponsored by the Guardian and book publisher 4th Estate.
The University of East Anglia Creative Writing Fellowships
The UEA is runs one of the top MFA programmes in the world. They offer two fellowships for writers of colour, David T.K. Wong Fellowship (£26,000, lasts for nine months and supports a writer of fiction to write in English about East and Southeast Asia) and The 9mobile Fellowship, (£10,000 to enable a fiction writer from Africa to spend four months with UEA).
Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize
The Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 18 that marries literary merit with unputdownability. The work can be on any subject at all. They welcome submissions of literary fiction and genre fiction equally. Novels for young adults or children are acceptable if they are mainly word-based; picture books are excluded.
The Times/Chicken House Prize is a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000, plus an offer of representation from a top literary agent. Although not strictly for BAME writers, they welcome and encourage submissions from writers from underrepresented backgrounds.
The Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize
Avon Books UK have partnered with Silé Edwards at Mushens Entertainment to launch a competition that’s exclusively open to un-agented, unpublished writers of colour. Writers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who are writing a commercial novel – whether in the crime, thriller, women’s fiction or historical genre - are eligible to apply. The winner will receive a two-book publishing contract with Avon with an advance against royalties of £10,000 (£5,000 per book), an additional £3,000 grant to support their writing, and representation from Mushens Entertainment.
Owned Voices was founded by Leodora Darlington, a commissioning editor passionate about hearing stories from a diverse range of voices. They recently launched the Owned Voices Novel Award. The award aims to give its two winners the best possible chance of finding an agent or publisher for their work. Un-agented writers from underrepresented backgrounds can apply (but you must have a fully completed manuscript first).
Borough Press, HarperFiction’s literary imprint, is running an open submission period for writers from underrepresented backgrounds. To enter, you must be from a lower socio-economic background, and/or of Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. Full details and application info available on their website.
Bookclubbish open call-out for Black Authors (in collaboration with InkyYard, Graydon and HQN)
This is an open callout for Black, un-agented authors. The different publishers involved all request different things. These scheme is now closed but I think they are re-opening for submissions in March 2021, so keep checking or sign up for the Bookclubbish newsletter.
Johnson & Alcock Literary Agency Mentoring Scheme - PAGE ONE
PAGE ONE is a flexible mentoring scheme designed to run over two to four weeks. It is open to all candidates from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in publishing. Tailored to the candidate’s knowledge and availability, our aim is to demystify the publishing industry, and motivate a new generation of candidates to want to join it.
Blake Friedmann Literary Agency - Carole Blake Open Doors Project
Shouts to Blake Friedmann, who have been running this internship scheme for years. The programme is specifically aimed at encouraging candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds to enter the publishing industry. They offer ten days of work shadowing over a two-week period, including funding for travel, a weekly stipend and up to thirteen nights’ accommodation in London. The programme includes close mentorship with Blake Friedmann’s book agents, the opportunity to attend selected meetings with editors and authors, and the chance to be involved in every aspect of day-to-day life as an agent.
Rodgers, Coleridge and White Literary Agency & Knights Of - Children’s Literature Mentoring Scheme
Although this scheme is finished, I am hoping it will run again. This past summer, RCW and Knights Of offered a series of free workshops about children’s publishing that gave transparency and clarity into the publishing process from beginning to end. They said they were particularly keen to hear from Black writers and would prioritise their applications. They felt that the very specific lack of Black children’s authors in the UK needed addressing and hoped that by providing transparent information, and making it available online after the event, they could help create a viable path into children’s publishing.
Even though it’s over, check back because they may run it again later this year. Also, the PDF Handbook they released after the workshops is excellent. It’s free to download off their site. Highly, highly recommend.
David Higham and Associates - DHA New Writer’s Open Day/Open Week
Literary agency David Higham and Associates have built on previous Open Days for Underrepresented Writers with their new Open Week for adult and children’s fiction. For the first time, writers from outside the UK writing in English can apply to attend. Applications for the latest cohort are closed but they will likely run it again in 2021. Keep an eye out!
Peepal Tree Press - Inscribe Writer’s Mentoring Programme
The Inscribe programme aims to assist writers of colour in England to professionally advance their creative work and their careers. They support writers by offering coaching, mentoring, workshops, residentials, training, newsletters, publications and general advice.
The Future Bookshelf - in collaboration with Hachette UK
THRIVE (Hachette UK’s BAME network) and Hachette UK are offering a fiction development programme for writers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds to commence in January 2021. The programme is free and open to writers in the UK and Ireland. Writers will be offered the opportunity to develop their adult fiction manuscript through online workshops led by industry professionals. Each writer will also be offered one-on-one mentorship with both an editor and agent for up to nine months. This program is running right now (time of publishing is Jan 2021), but keep an eye out for when submissions hopefully re-open in the fall of 2021.
United States
PERIPLUS is a mentorship collective serving U.S. writers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of colour. They are looking for mentees who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour, who are located in the United States, who are at least 18 years old, and whose writing shows great promise.
The New Voices Award is given annually by children's book publisher Lee & Low Books for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of colour or Native/Indigenous writer. Established in 2000, the New Voices Award encourages writers of colour and Native nations to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent.
We Need Diverse Books - multiple opportunities
We Need Diverse Books has a whole list of different grants and other opportunities for writers of colour on their website. Check the link above for full details.
Representation Matters Mentorship Program
RMMP was founded by a small group of editors at New York City publishing houses who felt strongly about making a difference in diversity in the publishing industry. Since the program’s founding in September 2016, its coordination team has expanded to include allies from the design and marketing departments. Two-person teams of editors (one senior and one junior) volunteer to be mentors to self-identified BIPOC who are considering a career in publishing. The program is currently focused on editorial only, but may expand to other areas of publishing in the future. You don’t have to live in the US, but most, if not all of the connections and guidance you’ll receive will have a US focus, so it would make sense to be there.
Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award
Awarded to a Black writer who has had a book published in the United States (self-published books are eligible). Please visit the site for full details.
Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Fellowship
Two fellowships are on offer here - one for poetry, one for fiction. Application for these fellowships is open to all writers of colour, ages 18 and older. The awards provide funding to attend a week of choice at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.
PEN America Emerging Writers Fellowship
In 1996, PEN America Los Angeles initiated Emerging Voices as a literary mentorship program designed to launch potential professional writers from minority, immigrant and other underrepresented communities. The program has now evolved into an seven-month writing fellowship for writers who lack access to a traditional writing education and seek financial and creative support.
Related resources:
Spread the Word in the UK published an in-depth report on the state of the publishing industry as experienced by Black and South Asian writers. It’s long and well-worth a read. Though this version came out in 2015, many of these things are also still prevalent today.
Funds for Writers has an extremely comprehensive list of different grants and residencies. Not all are for diverse writers, but some are.
BIPOC Bookshelf - Editors and Agents Database - A searchable database of industry publishing professionals of colour (editors and agents mostly).
Kidlit Writers of Colour - this is a twitter list of, as the name would suggest, Kidlit Writers of Colour.