APPRENTICESHIPS NEWS

 

APPRENTICESHIPS 2010

We are pleased to announce the fifth year of the Apprenticeships In Fiction scheme. This year we are offering five placements including one for crime and one for children’s fiction (age range 9 - 16). The selection panel will include Hannah Westland from leading literary agency Rogers, Coleridge, White.

In its first four years, the scheme has already resulted in three publications and referred a further eight writers to literary agents. Every year, apprentices successfully secure funding from a range of sources including Arts Council England.

For 2010 we are able to offer a fuller and more comprehensive programme with an expanded team of mentors. In addition to the five key placements, we have also opened up the scheme to allow selected runners-up access to the first stage of our six-stage programme. Stage-One is now available in the form of a limited number of targeted appraisals, workshops and one-to-ones.

The financial assistance of Arts Council England has enabled us to offer an award of £1000 towards each apprenticeship. (A subsidy of over 36%.)

Thank you all for your interest and support.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 31st May 2010
Induction :9th September 2010

SUCCESS STORIES

Heartfelt congratulations to 2006 apprentice Alison Gangel whose memoir The Sun Hasn’t Fallen From the Sky is due for publication with Bloomsbury in 2010- and to 2008 apprentice Jo Reed whose novel The Tyranny of the Blood was recently published by Wild Wolf Press.

 

FUNDING OPTIONS

The high calibre of the programme (and the writers) means that apprentices are increasingly able to attract financial support. In the first three years, four writers secured funding.

This year we would like to congratulate Ruth Dugdall who was been awarded a grant from Arts Council England - and Noreen Rees who is supported by the SY Killingley Memorial Trust and the Rotary Club of Monkseaton Centenary.

 

APPRENTICESHIPS 2009

This year’s apprentices are all working in genre and category specific areas including commercial women’s fiction, crime, and fiction for young adults:

ALISON BELSHAM

When a fatal car crash robs rock chick Domino St Jacques of her mother, all she has to remember her by is a bone amulet and the name of the man that just might be her father...  Bone Lucky is a blockbuster of a novel, set in the glamorous and tawdry world of international celebrity.

Alison Belsham is a copywriter from West London.    

KELLY COWLEY

The Vagabond Stage tells the story of unworldly young Timony, the new apprentice in Makaydees Roaming Theatre who has been unwittingly hired to play the female roles. As he embarks on a journey through the Elizabethan underworld, he soon discovers that there are worse things in life than parading in facepaint and a dress.

Kelly Cowley studied at Dartington College of Arts. She currently works at the Grosvenor Museum in Cheshire.              

RUTH DUGDALL

In two weeks, Sam will be sixteen, she will have left school and she will also be a murderer. In Family Snap, Sam has got it all worked out and she’s counting down the days. Four years ago, her mother was attacked and left brain-damaged. Now, it is time for revenge. 

Former probation officer turned crime writer, Ruth Dugdall has already won several awards for her writing including the CWA Debut Dagger. She lives in Suffolk. 

NOREEN REES

Hiding out in a dilapidated caravan site in Northumberland, twelve year old Ryan and his family are already in enough trouble when he unearths an ancient box containing a mummified hand. With loan sharks hot in pursuit, will the mysterious Hand of Glorie prove to be a help or a hindrance?

Noreen Rees, who lives in Whitley Bay, is an award-winning playwright and the author of two children’s picture books.

EMMA SEAMAN

In Lookeylikey, a shy convent girl who looks uncannily like an up and coming actress finds work as her lookalike, but once she steps into the starlet’s shoes and starts acting out her life she finds that there are deadly repercussions.

Emma Seaman is an award-winning short story writer, who has been published in six anthologies, including four from Legend Press. She lives in Cornwall.

We would like to thank all applicants for Apprenticeships 2009 and to encourage you all to apply to Apprenticeships 2010.

 

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