APPRENTICESHIPS 2011 – Selection panel & mentors

Every year the five successful apprentices are drawn from open competition by a panel of experts. Past panelists include Laura Longrigg from MBA Literary Agency, Clare Conville from Conville Walsh, Rupert Heath Associates, Stephanie Glencross from Jane Gregory Associates and Hannah Westland, from leading literary agency Rogers, Coleridge, White.

This year’s panel includes Anna Power from the Johnson and Alcock Literary Agency and Marion Urch, the director of Adventures in Fiction.

We are now able to draw upon a pool of mentors with expertise in the following areas – commercial and literary fiction, crime, science fiction, fantasy, fiction for children (8+ and teenage), adventure, historical adventure and romance, postmodernism, dirty realism, middle-market commercial women’s fiction, memoir, autobiography, literary historical, thrillers, psycho-thrillers, comic fiction, satire, horror, chicklit, modern gothic and romantic fiction for mature readers among others. The key mentors for this year include Catherine Johnston, Brian Keaney, Liz Williams, Laura Wilson, Sarah Bower, and Marion Urch.

BRIAN KEANEY
Brian Keaney is an acclaimed children’s author and a specialist in the market for children’s fiction. As the author of sixteen novels for young people, his writing has been translated into eleven languages and shortlisted for several awards. He has also worked within the publishing industry as a series editor for both MacMillan Education and Stanley Thomas Publishing. His teaching experience ranges from one-to-one coaching to running intensive workshops. In 2006 he was the Royal Literary Writing Fellow at the City and Guilds School of Art, London.

MARION URCH
Marion Urch is the director of Adventures In Fiction. She is also a novelist and writer of short stories, with credits for film, radio and television. With over ten years experience within the publishing and literary community, she established Adventures In Fiction in 2003 in response to a growing demand for a comprehensive writer-oriented programme. Her novel An Invitation to Dance was recently published in Britain, Ireland and Russia. (Brandon 2009)

CATHERINE JOHNSON
Catherine Johnson has written eleven novels for children and Young Adults. She also has writing credits for film and television, including Bullet Boy and Rough Crossings. She has been writer-in-residence in Holloway Prison, mentored writers for the Royal Literary Fund and the British Council and taught creative writing in London, Albania and Malawi. Her latest book is A Nest of Vipers. (Random House 2008)

LIZ WILLIAMS
Liz Williams is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in Glastonbury, England. She is the author of nine novels and one short story collection and is published in Bantam (US) and Tor Macmillan (UK). Her work regularly appears in Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's and other magazines. Her novel Banner of Souls has been nominated for both the Philip K Dick Memorial Award and the Arthur C Clarke Award.

LAURA WILSON
Laura Wilson is an awarding winning crime writer. Her fourth novel The Lover won the 2004 Prix du Polar Europeen for Best Crime Novel of the Year In Translation and was also shortlisted for the 2004 Gold Dagger and the Ellis Peters Award. In 2008, she won the Ellis Peters Award with her seventh novel Stratton’s War.

SARAH BOWER
Sara Bower is the author of two critically acclaimed historical novels, The Needle in the Blood and The Book of Love. (Snowbooks 2007 & 2008) She is also a prize-winning short story writer. She teaches creative writing at UEA and the Open University.

TOM BROMLEY
Tom Bromley has worked in publishing for over a decade as an editor, author and ghostwriter. He spent five years working as a commissioning editor and publisher for Little, Brown and Anova Books. He is also the author of eight titles including the novels, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Half A World Away (Pan Macmillan)

CLARE BROWN
Clare Brown is the author of The Creation Myths (2005) and Dream Laboratory (2007), two highly original novels that negotiate the boundaries between commercial and literary fiction. (Both published by Bloomsbury.) A third novel, Mothers' Day, was published in France and the Netherlands in 2011. She is currently Writer in Residence at Nottingham Academy.

 

 

 

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