Apply: IALA’s 2024 Mentorship Program

IALA’s fourth annual mentorship program will run from July 1 through August 31, 2024, with mentorships for writers of the novel, memoir, creative nonfiction, short story, poetry as well as literary translation from Eastern or Western Armenian into English. Mentors will read and provide feedback on their mentee’s writing and speak virtually with their mentee throughout the program to discuss the writing life, the mentee’s work and how to navigate the publishing industry. At the end of the program, IALA will host an Emerging Writers Showcase to feature the mentees’ work.

You can learn more about the program by watching our info session which took place on March 17, 2024, featuring mentors Aida Zilelian and Jen Siraganian.

Application Guidelines

• Applications are accepted from March 5 to April 14, 2024
• Genres: Novels, memoir, creative nonfiction, short stories, poetry and literary translation
• Age: Applicants must be 18 years of age or over by July 1, 2024
• Applicants must not have a traditionally published book
• Applicants must identify as Armenian
• Applicants must be active IALA members. Click here to become a member or to renew your membership
• Applicants will be asked to provide a sample of recent work. For fiction and creative nonfiction, we ask to see 10 pages. For poetry, please submit 5-10 poems. For translations, please submit up to 5 pages, and include the original source pages, a link to where the original text can be found online, or a detailed bibliographic citation of the original text 
• Submissions must be in the English language
• All submissions must be double spaced (except for poetry), in 12 point font, Times New Roman, with standard 1” margins
• Your writing sample should be in the genre, and ideally from the project, you intend to work on with your mentor
• If you were accepted to the program previously, you are not able to apply again. If you applied and weren’t accepted, however, you’re more than welcome to apply as many times as you wish
• If you are interested in both writing and translation mentorships, you can submit two separate applications and we will choose the stronger one

Note: Selected participants must commit to four meetings during the two-month mentorship period, and be willing to do the work required to develop their writing or translation.

See the mentees and mentors of the 2023 IALA Mentorship Program.