Gold Dust is a mentoring scheme for fiction writers, founded by novelist Jill Dawson in response to frequent requests from writing students for more individual support. The scheme operates from London, Cambridgeshire, Manchester and Oxford.

In 2001 Jill Dawson was commissioned by the Royal Literary Fund to research the needs of writers working on a first novel or collection of stories. She found that what emerging writers want most is detailed critical attention from a writer they respect, or perhaps simply the opportunity to talk to an experienced, published writer about their work.  

Jill Dawson	Sally Cline	Kate Pullinger	Kathryn Heyman	Carole Angier	Louise Doughty	Michèle Roberts	Jacquetta May	Shelley Weiner
				click on images to read about the authors
Michelle Spring	Jane Rogers	Shahrukh Husain	Romesh Gunesekera

click here to read an article by Jill Dawson about mentoring, originally published in Mslexia magazine.

MA courses in Creative Writing do not always offer the amount of consultation hours that writers would ideally like, or feel they need.  Other mentoring schemes exist but may use inexperienced writers as mentors, or be conducted via email with no face-to-face meetings, or be aimed primarily at young writers. There is no age barrier to Gold Dust. Mentors include two professors in Creative Writing and mentors who have taught on MA courses at UEA, Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, University of Sheffield, Anglia Ruskin and Leicester de Montfort University. Many have been Royal Literary Fund Fellows.

Gold Dust is unique in offering new writers ten hours of individual consultation time with an established writer, usually spread out over a period of a year.  Meetings take place in either London, Oxford, Manchester or Cambridgeshire. Travel is at the new writer’s expense.  In between times the mentor writer reads work in progress, for a further total of ten hours. 

The fee is £2000, payable on acceptance to the scheme.  The scheme is competitive, and work is accepted on the basis of the promise shown. Judges assess the quality of the work submitted and mentors are involved in the final decision. Limited places are available; a writer who is not successful the first time may be asked to reapply.

Gold Dust does not guarantee publication but mentors will advise about this and may suggest agents or further avenues to explore. 

It is not possible to confirm in advance which mentor will work with a new writer but as mentioned above all Gold Dust mentors are established authors with at least five published works to their credit (often many more than this).  Writers who have mentored for us in the past include: novelists Kate Pullinger, Kathryn Heyman, Julia Darling, Jane Rogers, Michelle Spring, Jill Dawson, Catherine Johnson, Peter Benson and Millie Murray and acclaimed biographers Sally Cline (a previous director of Gold Dust) and Carole Angier. 

Gold Dust also offers help with screenwriting, for film and TV and have two hightly experienced mentors in these fields.

Gold Dust Writing Scheme regrets but it does not at present offer mentoring to poets.

How do I apply?

Please send three chapters and brief synopsis of the work in progress (novel, stories or life-writing) and your name, address and email address to :
GOLD DUST
PO Box 247
Ely
CB7 9BX

or use the application form here.

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