The aim of Black Girl Writers is to connect professional mentors with aspiring writers who identify as Black women for free. Black in this sense includes women of African, Caribbean, Afro-Latin, African-American, and Bi-racial heritage. Women includes cis, trans, and non-binary. We are based in the UK, but accept applications internationally.
These mentors are a mixture of editors, writers, and literary agents.
We will forward your details to your chosen mentor (subject to availability). After an introductory email, you and your mentor will then organise weekly, fortnightly, or monthly sessions together. Monthly mentorships should last between 2-4 months unless your mentor decides to keep you on for longer.
We are currently running on a first come, first served basis, which means mentor spaces get filled very quickly. If your chosen mentor is no longer available, we will work with you to arrange a session with our 1:1 standalone mentors as an alternative.
On rare occasions, we will be unable to find a suitable mentor for your application, but in such cases, we aim to organise a private, tailor-made group session to give unmatched mentees the opportunity to speak to an industry professional in a safe and confidential environment.
Due to increasing demand, we will periodically close our applications. Application windows will generally run from late April-May, and then late October-November. We will close submissions once we reach 30 applications.
We also organise free writing events with publishing professionals throughout the year. These are a great opportunity to network and ask your burning questions to literary agents, editors, authors, and directors. We always announce our events on the news page.
Future plans of Black Girl Writers include regular meetups to discuss our WIPs, offer support, and collaborate on anthology projects. All of these things will be achieved by potential lottery funding. Please watch this space for future announcements!