Mentorships announced

24 March 2017   2017 Mentorships' announced for writers and graphic novelists  Recipients have been selected for the New Zealand Society of Authors Mentorship Programme 2017 with fourteen chosen from a pool of sixty-four applicants. With a high level of commitment shown by the applicants and a wide variety of fascinating projects the judges had quite a task making their selection. The mentees of 2017 are a dedicated group of emerging writers who cover a diversity of genres including creative non fiction, suspense/crime, literary fiction, speculative SF, children's fiction, poetry, memoir, contemporary fiction, steampunk/fantasy and graphic novel. Writers are able to create stories anywhere as proven by the widespread locations of our 2017 mentees - Whangarei, Auckland, Carterton, Havelock North, Waikanae, Porirua, Wellington and Christchurch, with one writer calling Falease’ela in Samoa home and another spending many of her days at sea. The 2017 recipients are: Helen Caldwell, Paul Chapman, Makyla Curtis, Michelle Elvy, Joy Fu, Rachel Honey, Caoimhe McKeogh, Nadine Millar, Wendy Nolan, Alex Stone, Judith Stanley, Simon Thomas, Jane Va’afusuaga, and Gareth Ward. They will spend the remainder of 2017 honing their skills and developing their craft under the mentorship of some of New Zealand’s finest professional authors and comic / graphic novelists. Selection panel convener Philippa Werry commented that “the successful writer's projects were well thought out and had creative merit with a few showing astonishing originality". Mentorships are offered by the NZSA every year with the intent of fostering and developing emerging writers with the support of established practitioners. The NZSA has run a highly successful mentoring programme for writers since 1999 and it is supported by funding from Creative New Zealand. Pictures and short bios of our 2017 mentees.