APPRENTICESHIPS NEWS

We are pleased to announce the fourth 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 11-16). The selection panel will include Stephanie Glencross from the influential Gregory and Company Literary Agency.

In its first three years, the scheme has already resulted in a publication and referred a further six writers to literary agents. Four writers have also secured funding, two from Arts Council England, one for an individual mentoring programme with Adventures In Fiction and one to support an apprenticeship placement.

For 2009 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%.)

We would like to thank all the applicants for APPRENTICESHIPS 2008 and to encourage you all to apply for APPRENTICESHIPS 2009. Thank you all for your interest and support.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 29th May 2009
INDUCTION: 3rd September 2009

APPRENTICESHIPS 2008

The 2008 apprentices have already notched up a number of successes between them and are now working towards the conclusion of the programme.

SHEILA BUGLER

Sheila Bugler grew up in the west of Ireland but now lives in London with her husband and two young children. In Ready to Fall, thirty-two-year-old Clodagh Reilly has been framed for a murder she didn’t commit. As she struggles to clear her name, she stumbles into a nightmare world of forced surrogacy, baby trafficking, abduction and murder.

LINDSAY MCKRELL

Lindsay McKrell is a Community Librarian at Stirling's Central Library. Her fantasy novel for children, Crow was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Kelpies Prize for Scottish Fiction. When twelve-year-old Lewis and his seriously absent-minded mother move house, he has a whole new world to contend with. He is being bullied at school, the house seems to be haunted and the next-door neighbours - a motley bunch of magically gifted children - have an urgent job for him to do.

JO REED

Jo Reed lives and works in Somerset. She has a doctorate in physiology and psychology. Her novel, The Tyranny of the Blood deals with the dark side of eugenics. Set two thousand years ago in the remote Scottish Highlands it follows the story of Rendail who has been groomed from birth to perfect his father’s work. ‘The Family’ may possess super powers but they are also fatally flawed: Rendail seems doomed to perpetuate his father’s mistakes - until a chance encounter with an enigmatic stranger opens his eyes.

WENDY STORER

Wendy Storer lives in Cumbria where she runs a therapeutic practice. Her writing has been strongly influenced by a background in education, particularly in her work with emotionally disturbed children. In Ladder to the Moon, fifteen-year-old Jed is struggling to cope with caring for his invalid father and little brother when an incident at school threatens to blow his life apart.

We would like to thank all the applicants for Apprenticeships 2008 and to encourage you to all apply for Apprenticeships 2009.

 

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