APPRENTICESHIPS 2008 – Selection panel & mentors

The five successful apprentices were drawn from open competition by a panel of experts including leading literary agent, Rupert Heath, acclaimed children’s author, Brian Keaney, 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 Brian Keaney, Marion Urch, crime writer Martyn Waites and science fiction and fantasy writer Liz Williams.

RUPERT HEATH
Rupert Heath founded his eponymous literary agency in 2001, and has gone on to represent writers across the spectrum, ranging from historical, crime and literary fiction to memoirs, humour and business. His clients include Robyn Young, who has been the UK's bestselling debut author of 2006-2007. Before becoming an agent Rupert spent six years as a book editor, most recently for Pan Macmillan.

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.

MARTYN WAITES
Martyn Waites is the author of eight crime novels including The White Room, which was a Guardian Book Of The Year in 2005 and The Mercy Seat, which was nominated for the Crime Writers Association 'Ian Fleming' Steel Dagger for Thriller of the Year 2006. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was an actor before becoming a writer. He has held two writing residencies, one in Huntercombe Young Offenders Institution and one in HMP Chelmsford. He is currently RLF Literary Fellow at the University of Essex.

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.