Cornerstones Literary Consultancy
has been awarded Arts Council funding for their
ELEVATE
mentoring
scheme, following a successful pilot run. ELEVATE is aimed at pairing low-income and/or underrepresented
writers with specialist editors to develop their manuscripts. The scheme, due to launch February 2021 (with a second submission window in July), has initial funding for twelve months. Every month, two writers will receive three hours of mentoring, supporting a total of twenty-four writers. A further sixty mentoring hours are available to allocate to projects that could benefit from additional help. Funding also covers two interns to assist with submissions.
Applicants will be invited to send in their opening pages and synopsis, alongside details of how they are suited
to a scheme promoting inclusivity. Writers may be from a low-income background, identify as BIPOC (Black,
Indigenous, Person of Colour) and/or LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual),
and/or have a disability. Successful candidates will receive a tailored one-to-one experience, where editors will
review materials, workshop techniques, and answer queries about the writing, editing, and submissions
process.
Those eligible will be writers of adult or children’s fiction and non-fiction, and, as with all Cornerstones
projects, we will only take on manuscripts that are beyond the creative writing stage – these may be partial
drafts or completed works.
Application windows: 1-21 February; 1-21 July
For further information, please contact sarah@cornerstones.co.uk
