


Mentoring
Develop your craft and set your own writing goals with an experienced author to guide you one-on-one.

About our mentoring programmes
A key aspect of Faber Academy’s London courses has always been the element of personal connection between professional authors and developing writers. Seeking to reproduce that vital relationship in the context of lockdown led us to the idea of a Faber Academy mentoring programme, a service we are now pleased to have expanded into three separate mentorship offerings, ranging from six weeks to nine months.
Your mentorship will feature a mixture of video conference conversations with your mentor and written responses on work you've produced in response to the various exercises, reading lists, prompts and directions which arise from these conversations. The scheme is designed to be flexible, its precise form being decided upon by you and your mentor depending on your particular project and requirements.

How it works
Get in touch
After you've chosen the mentoring programme that best suits you from the list below, you'll need to submit an application – tell us about yourself and your writing, and what you're looking for from a mentorship.
We'll find the right mentor
We'll find someone we think is perfect for you. This may involve a 'chemistry chat', where the two of you will speak via Zoom about your goals for mentoring and check you're on the same page.
Time to write
You'll begin your mentorship, according to the timescale of your particular programme and the specific schedule you and your mentor have agreed on. Usually, you'll have an intital meeting and then will have a period of writing time, producing work for your mentor to give you feedback on.
Our Mentoring Programmes (3)
Six-week Mentorship
Location
Twelve-week Mentorship
Location
Length
Nine-month Mentorship
Location
Length
must say that it was an amazing experience for me. Kate is thoughtful, understanding and gave advice that has really ignited a fire within me to finish my book.

Our Mentors

Andrew Wilson
Crime • Fiction Development • Novel
Andrew Wilson is a novelist, biographer and journalist. His first book, Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury)...

Ayisha Malik
Fiction Development • Novel
Ayisha is a former publicist at Penguin Random House, turned managing editor at Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, turned...

Frances Leviston
Fiction Development • Novel • Poetry • Short Story
Frances Leviston's first book of short stories, The Voice in My Ear, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2020. She has also...

Joanna Briscoe
Fiction Development • Novel
Joanna Briscoe is the author of the novels Mothers and Other Lovers, which won the Betty Trask Award; Skin; Sleep With Me, which...

Julia Blackburn
Non-fiction
Julia Blackburn was born in London in 1948, the daughter of the poet Thomas Blackburn and the painter Rosalie de Meric. Her first book...

Maurice Riordan
Poetry
Maurice Riordan was born in Co. Cork. His first book, A Word from the Loki (1995), was nominated for the T. S. Eliot Prize...

Miranda Doyle
Non-fiction
Miranda Doyle's family come from the tiny island of Coney in Sligo Bay. She grew up in Edinburgh alongside three brothers and...

Nikesh Shukla
Fiction Development • Non-fiction • Novel
Nikesh Shukla is an novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel...

Patti Miller
Non-fiction
Patti Miller is the author of ten books, three of which are writing texts: Writing Your Life; The Memoir Book and Writing True Stories...

Richard Scott
Poetry
Richard Scott was born in London in 1981. His pamphlet Wound (Rialto) won the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2016 and his poem...

Richard T. Kelly
Fiction Development • Novel
Richard T. Kelly is the author of the novels Crusaders (2008), The Possessions of Doctor Forrest (2011) and The Knives (2016)...

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Fiction Development • Novel
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of Harmless Like You – the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask...

Sarah May
Fiction Development • Novel
Sarah May is the highly acclaimed author of seven novels, including The Nudist Colony, (shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award...

Shelley Weiner
Fiction Development • Non-fiction • Novel • Short Story
Shelley Weiner is an acclaimed novelist, short-story writer and journalist who has, over the years, established a reputation...

Sue Gee
Fiction Development • Novel
Sue Gee is a novelist and short story writer who ran the MA Writing Programme at Middlesex University from 2000 till 2008...

Tom Bromley
Fiction Development • Non-fiction • Novel
Tom Bromley is an author, editor and ghostwriter. He has written ten books under his own name, both fiction and non-fiction...

Holly McCulloch
Fiction Development • Novel
Having worked as an author, an editor, a reader and a book buyer, Holly has experienced many different aspects of the commercial...

Claire McGlasson
Fiction Development • Novel
Claire McGlasson's first novel, The Rapture, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year and shortlisted for the London Magazine...

Kate Murray-Browne
Fiction Development • Non-fiction • Novel
Kate Murray-Browne is a writer and editor. Her first novel, The Upstairs Room, was published by Picador in 2017 and was a Times’ Book of the Year, and her second, One Girl Began, will be published in 2024....
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I request a specific mentor?
Absolutely. It’s not always possible for us to arrange, but if you have a particular mentor in mind, it’s always helpful for us to know. Mention it in your covering letter and we’ll do what we can. If it’s not possible, we’ll be able to suggest mentors with similar interests and experience.
Can I have more than one mentor?
No, that’s not possible with any of our current mentoring programmes – the relationship between you and your mentor is at the centre of all three of our mentorships, and we’ve found that it’s that unique dialogue which gets the best results from the process. If there are two of our mentors you’d like to work with, you could consider doing consecutive programmes.
I've submitted an application for a mentoring programme – when will I hear back?
We’ll be in touch as soon as we have an available mentor we think will be a good fit for your project. Sometimes this takes a little while – it’s important to us that we get this bit right – but we’ll always aim to be in touch with you within ten working days of your application.