Breakthrough Mentoring Programme

Four talented writers will each receive nine months of free, intensive, one-to-one mentoring from a published author, plus a one-to-one tutorial with a Curtis Brown literary agent.

We are now accepting applications for our 2025 Breakthrough Mentoring Programme for LGBTQIA+ Writers.

Apply by 8 Jun 2025

Is it right for me?

This mentoring programme is for you if you are a talented writer who fulfils the eligibility criteria and if you are seeking targeted, detailed one-to-one feedback on your work-in-progress, plus industry advice. You can apply to be mentored for a project at any stage of writing (from just starting to redrafting) and written in any of the following genres/categories:

Novel written for adults
Novel written for children (older than 7) or young adults
Collection of short stories
Memoir
Narrative non-fiction

(We may extend the range of genres in future years of the Breakthrough Writers’ Programme).

My time on the Curtis Brown Creative Breakthrough mentorship has been nothing short of a miracle. As a working-class writer, this opportunity has been completely invaluable and a scheme that has noticeably made a difference to my career.

Lucy Rose
Author of The Lamb

How it works

If you’re selected for mentoring, we will match you with a mentor from our experienced team of author-tutors whose area of expertise/interest matches the kind of project you’re working on.

On three occasions over a nine-month period, you can send up to 10,000 words from your work-in-progress to your mentor, who will read it and meet with you on Zoom for one hour (on a mutually agreeable date) to discuss it in-depth, providing valuable and constructive verbal feedback plus 500 words of notes each time. You can also use a mentoring session to have an in-depth discussion about plot issues, by instead sending a synopsis plus an 8,000-word extract – or just a synopsis and a sheet of issues and questions to put to the mentor.

The three sessions should be spread so that they happen approximately every three months across the nine-month period (though if you want to have the sessions across a shorter time period – e.g. six months, that’s usually possible if agreed in advance).

Agent tutorial

At the end of the nine-month mentoring period (or earlier, at your request), each mentee will receive a 45-minute one-to-one Zoom tutorial with a Curtis Brown or C&W literary agent. The agent will read the opening 3,000-word extract from your novel-in-progress plus your synopsis. They will provide detailed feedback as well as answer any questions about your writing more generally and your potential next steps.

Help with submitting your work

For all our mentees – when you’re ready to send the project you’re working on to agents, an experienced member of the CBC team will help you submit your work to the agents at Curtis Brown and C&W.