Saira Shah won the WriteMentor Picture Book Award 2022 and is now represented by Peters Fraser + Dunlop. She shares her experience and writing advice.
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Cate Haynes won the WriteMentor Novel Award 2023 for ‘Nan Crabapple is Spellbound’. She shares her experience and writing advice.
WriteMentor Picture Book Award runner-up Tracy Curran describes her experience and her publishing journey so far
Want to get your manuscript noticed by publishing professionals? In WriteMentor’s Ask An Agent blog series, we invite leading literary agents to answer quick-fire questions about publishing and submissions, to give children’s writers insights and advice about the querying process.
Our shortlist this year was judged by Becky Bagnall, top literary agent. The Lindsay Literary Agency was founded in 2008 by Becky Bagnell, who has been in publishing for over 25 years. She …
Here’s the titles for our shortlist, which is now in the hands of our agent judge, Becky Bagnall. Kickerella Monty McPurr and the Genie of the Blobfish The Nighthawk Detectives …
We received (according to our form software) 256 entries for the award this year, down from 462 last year. Here’s the interesting stats of the spread of the entries: The …
Author Clare Thompson shares her experience of WriteMentor’s summer mentoring programme
Dee Benson, who found her agent through WriteMentor’s summer mentoring programme and whose novel, ‘Glow Up, Lara Bloom’, is out now, shares how the experience developed her writing and gave her insights into the publishing world
We have reached the final stage of our search for the best unpublished novels and picture books out there for kids! Published authors, commissioning editors, librarians, booksellers, and library agents …
WriteMentor Novel and Picture Book Awards 2023 – THE WINNERS Read More »
Author Cat Weldon and her mentee Richard Berry chat about their experience of WriteMentor’s Spark mentoring
Jan Dunning, author of Young Adult novel Mirror Me, shares how her confidence grew thanks to WriteMentor mentoring
Author Carolyn Ward and her mentee Claudia Gonella chat about their experience of WriteMentor’s Spark programme
“I honestly believe if I hadn’t found WriteMentor, I would have given up after receiving so many rejections. I would have continued to believe that I wasn’t good enough. I …
“I owe any successes so far to the team at WriteMentor” Read More »
Thank you to the longlist judging team NOVEL LONGLIST JUDGES PICTURE BOOK LONGLIST JUDGES Shortlisted texts will now be read by literary agents SHORTLIST JUDGES Congratulations to the shortlist writers …
2023 Novel and Picture Book Shortlists: Revealed Read More »
Mentoring verb the act or process of helping and giving advice to a younger or less experienced person It’s time for a change. I guess in the early days of …
“Spark Mentoring is a great way to gain advice on so many aspects of writing and the publishing industry. You realise you’re not alone, and you receive regular and high-quality …
“Spark Mentoring is tailored to your writing needs” Read More »
Writer Melissa Kay Valente describes how being part of the WriteMentor community via the Hub membership platform helped her secure agent representation.
January 2023 Picture books are funny things, aren’t they? They do amazing jobs, from sending someone off to the land of sleep, to giving that same someone a championing fist …
Welcome to our end of year round-up. It’s been a busy and incredibly emotional year over on our Hub. We’ve had the highs of many members signing with agents and …
Author & WriteMentor Spark mentor Melissa Welliver shares her top tips to help children’s writers craft querying letters
Read the latest insights from WriteMentor Hub Writer-in-Residence and children’s author Marcus Sedgwick
WriteMentor Ask an Agent series interviews Charlotte Colwill from literary agency Colwill & Peddle
Writer Camilla Porter describes her experience of WriteMentor’s rhyming picture book course led by author Catherine Emmett
Author Clare Helen Welsh announces the Books That Help free mentorship scheme for a writer or writer-illustrator writing stories that create emotionally honest spaces for children and families
Read the latest insights from WriteMentor Hub Writer-in-Residence and children’s author Marcus Sedgwick
Writer Lucas Maxwell describes his experience of winning WriteMentor’s Novel-in-Development Award, a writing prize that celebrates and champions unfinished children’s novels
Announcing the winners of WriteMentor Novel in Development Award 2022
Read the latest insights from WriteMentor Hub Writer-in-Residence and children’s author Marcus Sedgwick
WriteMentor Hub Writer in Residence Rashmi Sirdeshpande discusses why writing books is a business, regardless of how much you love it
Read the latest insights from WriteMentor Hub Writer-in-Residence and children’s author Marcus Sedgwick.
Before we announce the list(s), just a few interesting bits of information from entries this year. We received (according to our form software) 462 entries for the award this year, …
WriteMentor Hub Writer in Residence Rashmi Sirdeshpande shares the professional roles involved in publishing picture books
WriteMentor Hub Writer in Residence Rashmi Sirdeshpande shares how picture book writers can develop range across styles and genres
Kristina Wilson-Brown shares how becoming part of a critique group via the WriteMentor Hub reignited her motivation after a writing slump
Read a July reflection from WriteMentor Hub Novel Writer-in-Residence Marcus Sedgwick
Writer and visual storyteller Maureen Tai won the WriteMentor Picture Book Award 2022. She shares her experience and writing advice.
Aoife Doyle won the WriteMentor Novel Award 2022 for ‘The Music Weaver’s Call’ and is now represented by Lucy Irvine at Peters Fraser + Dunlop. They share their experience and writing advice.
Read an exclusive WriteMentor Blog from Struan Murray and his editor Ben Horslen, winners of 2021 Branford Boase Award for the year’s outstanding debut novel for children
WM Novel and PB Awards 2022 – the Openings Openings of our Shortlisted Writers Simply click on the title in the table to be transported into that story world! Name …
Want to get your manuscript noticed by publishing professionals? In WriteMentor’s new blog series, we invite leading literary agents to answer quick-fire questions about publishing and submissions, to give children’s …
June 2022 Midsummer is approaching and I don’t know what you’ll be doing but I’ll be climbing a mountain (in my mind) and setting light to a bonfire of some …
Reflections from Writer-in-Residence Marcus Sedgwick Read More »
June 2022 Picture books (other than the wordless wonders!) are a dance of words and pictures and very often, it’s a dance in the dark. As all picture book writers …
Most if not all writers will have experienced or are currently experiencing strain on their mental health. For all its highs, writing, and then the process of querying and publishing, …
Children’s Novel and Picture Book Awards – the results Congratulations to winners Maureen Tai (Picture Book) and Aoife Doyle (Novel), who were chosen by judges Clare Wallace and Lydia Silver …
WriteMentor Hub Writer in Residence Marcus Sedgewick discusses the power of the writing community in his blog post
WriteMentor Hub 2022 Writer in Residence Rashmi Sirdeshpande shares how to overcome writers block
2022 Summer Programme Pairings We are now in our 5th year of the programme and we’ve helped more than 200 writers in that time. People often focus on figures like …
WriteMentor shares 5 tips for fantasy world building
“Mentoring [is] an invaluable resource, given selflessly by hard-working, talented mentors who give up their time to help less experienced writers.” Author Laura Noakes shares how her mentor’s insightful comments …