How does a one-year mentorship with an acclaimed author from the Folio Academy sound? They’ll offer you one-to-one guidance and advice on a writing project. Learn from a creative writing master. Get the inside track on what it’s like to write for a career, and how you could get your work published too.
What is the Mentorship Scheme?
If you’ve finished the First Story programme and want to keep writing, and you’ll be in sixth form next year, this mentorship could be for you.
First Story and the Folio Prize Foundation, along with its sponsor Rathbone Brothers PLC, are joining forces to create a Mentorship Scheme for four First Story students – and we want you to apply!
You’ll be paired with an acclaimed writer from the Folio Academy for one-on-one guidance on a writing project over the course of a year. You’ll have individual mentoring sessions and the opportunity to share your work with your mentor throughout the year. You’ll also have the opportunity to read from your work at the end of the year at one of the Rathbones Folio sessions in London.
This is a unique opportunity to develop your writing, to learn from a creative writing master, to benefit from personalised feedback and to get one step closer to publishing your work.
From the outset, our ambition was that this should be more than ‘just a prize’, with the unique resource of the Folio Academy being ideally placed to engage the public in exploring the power and potential of writing to transform lives. This engagement is a key priority for Rathbones as well, and together with them and First Story we are thrilled to be launching a new mentorships programme – the first of numerous initiatives we will roll out over the coming months and years.
Andrew Kidd and Kate Harvey, co-founders of The Folio Prize
Who can apply?
Any students who have taken part in the First Story programme and will be in sixth form in the 2017-18 academic year.
We will endeavour to match mentors and mentees geographically as far as possible, and welcome applications from any of our First Story students around the UK.
How do I get involved?
Please send us a 500-word statement of interest. Tell us:
Why you want to be mentored by a Folio Academy Member and take part in the scheme
What being part of First Story has meant to you and why you want to keep writing
Your school name
Send this to info@firststory.org.uk by Friday 11th August.
We’ll review all applications and let you know whether you have been selected by end of August.
First Story believes writing is a source of power and pleasure, and we are delighted to be partnering with The Rathbones Folio Prize to transform the lives of secondary school students. Working with Folio Academicians to nurture the most talented First Story students presents an unparalleled opportunity for them to develop their skills and find their own voices. We hope this will also contribute to the diversity of the publishing world, as the young people we work with come from backgrounds often not represented in mainstream publishing.
Mónica Parle, Executive Director of First Story
The First Story Residential Anthology 2016