IALA’s 2026 Mentorship Program
The International Armenian Literary Alliance’s sixth annual mentorship program will run from July 1 through August 31, 2026, with mentorships for writers of the novel, short story, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry, as well as literary translation from Eastern or Western Armenian into English, and vice versa. 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, mentees will have the opportunity to read their work at IALA’s virtual Emerging Writers Showcase.
Applications are now closed.
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. For further inquiries, kindly contact us at info@armenianliterary.org
Guidelines
- Applications are accepted from February 27 to March 31, 2026
- Genres: Novel, short story, memoir, creative nonfiction, poetry, and literary translation (Armenian into English, and vice versa)
- Age: Applicants must be 18 years of age or over by July 1, 2026
- Applicants must not have a traditionally published book
- Applicants must identify as Armenian
- Applicants must be active IALA members (at the time of application). Click here to join IALA 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, 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
- The writing sample should be in the genre, and ideally from the project, the applicant intends to work on with their mentor
- Submissions must be in the English language (except for translation samples in Armenian)
- All submissions must be double spaced (except for poetry), in 12 point font, Times New Roman, with standard 1” margins
- If an individual was accepted to the program previously, they are not able to apply again. If someone applied and wasn’t accepted, however, they are able to apply as many times as they wish
- Applications or submission samples containing text generated by artificial intelligence or other machine-based tools will not be accepted
Note: This program is intended only for those who are able to dedicate a significant amount of time during the mentorship period to working with their mentor. Selected participants must commit to a minimum of four meetings during the two-month mentorship period, and be willing to do the work required to develop their writing. The program is not intended for those seeking publishing guidance only.
Meet the mentees and mentors from the program’s previous years.