WRITER MENTORING WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD
Based in the UK, Gold Dust is a unique writer mentoring scheme, founded by novelist Jill Dawson. We offer what Jill herself wanted when she was an unpublished writer working on her first novel: to be able to show it to an established, award-winning author whose work she admired, and get their feedback and advice.
If you are awarded a Gold Dust mentorship we will provide 16 such hours with your mentor, spread out usually over a year. This will be in the form of eight hour-long meetings. Between meetings, the mentors will read your work for a further eight hours, and offer feedback on the writing, as well as an insider’s advice on the publishing world and finding an agent.
Most of the writers on our team now offer mentoring via Zoom or Skype. This has opened up the opportunities and flexibility of the mentoring and you can now participate from anywhere in the world, time-zones permitting.
‘What did Gold Dust do for me? Everything.’ – Rita Dallas, mentored by Jill Dawson
BESPOKE MENTORSHIPS
We also offer bespoke mentorships of 18 hours which can be spread out over two years.
There may also be opportunities to attend book launches and other events where you can meet with mentors, other writers, agents and publishers.
The Gold Dust fees are £4350 and £5000 for bespoke mentoring. Please note some mentors charge VAT.
TOP WRITERS
Gold Dust’s mentors are writers at the top of their game. They are chosen for their writing and teaching accomplishments. We have a rule that all Gold Dust mentors must have published at least five books (often the figure is many more) and have won, judged or been nominated for major national and International literary prizes such as The Booker, The Costa, The Women’s Prize, The Folio, The Impac and others.
‘What did Gold Dust do for me? Everything.’ – Rita Dallas, mentored by Jill Dawson
Many have been RLF Fellows, meaning they are particularly skilled at working one-to-one. In addition, all have taught on the best writing courses and many are, or have been, senior professors and course directors. These writing programmes include Creative Writing MAs such as UEA, Bath Spa, Goldsmith’s, Cambridge, Oxford, Sheffield Hallam, or for The Arvon Foundation, Guardian Masterclasses and The Faber Academy.
'On Louise Doughty – words simply fail me. She is the most wonderful mentor I could ever have hoped to have.' – Stephanie Scott, whose novel The Sentence is about to be published. Mentored by Louise Doughty
If your work is of a suitable standard, your mentor may well recommend an agent, but we cannot offer guarantees of publication. Gold Dust is for writers wishing to explore and experiment and improve their writing.
