Annick Press Mentorship
Supporting Writers Who Have Been Historically Excluded from Children’s Publishing
Annick Press is announcing a new paid mentorship program designed to support writers from groups historically excluded from children’s book publishing in North America including LGBTQ2SIA+ writers, Black writers, Indigenous writers, writers of color, and writers living with disabilities.
The program will pair mentees with one of Annick’s in-house editors to develop the mentee’s ideas with a view to potential publication. Mentees will receive a $1000 bursary for a three-month mentorship period.
"We’re thrilled to be rolling out this program, the first of its kind Annick has ever undertaken,” said Katie Hearn, Editorial Director at Annick. “Over the last several months, we’ve had many in-house discussions about how to improve and expand on the kinds of outreach we do to connect with writers who have been underrepresented in the industry. We also wanted to help create a clearer path for more writers to have their stories heard.”
There will be three opportunities throughout 2021 to apply. Annick’s goal is to work with 9 to 12 new writers through the mentorship program this year. To apply, interested candidates are asked to fill out an online application form on the Annick Press website here: https://www.annickpress.com/content/download/39779/543797/file/Mentorship%20Application%20JAN%202021.pdf
The deadline for the first round of submissions is February 8, 2021, and the first group of mentees will be selected March 8, 2021.
“The mentorship is a concrete step we can take to offer support to emerging writers and is intentionally structured to be flexible and transparent, so it can work in whatever way is right for the creators who apply,” Hearn says. “Our hope is that this marks the beginning of many new and exciting relationships that will last well after the mentorships are completed."
