An Táin Art Centre’s latest writer-in-residence Nicola Cassidy has put a call out for local aspiring authors to apply to her mentorship scheme, aimed at supporting writers to get published. Nicola is
the author of four historical fiction novels and is the Winter writer-in-residence at an Táin Arts Centre for 2022 and is running the mentorship as part of her residency. Speaking about the mentorship scheme, Nicola said that there are many talented writers working towards publication and a little guidance can go a long way. “When I was writing my first novel, I did a lot of research and made contact with many published writers to try to learn how it all worked. It can be a bit of a minefield when you’re starting out, and I’d love to help writers who have been
working on a project, who may have a book nearly finished and could do with a helping hand to try and get their work out into the world.”
Nicola is offering three mentorship places for 2023 for Louth based writers which will take the form of in person or zoom meetings and correspondence to support the writers in their bid to find a
literary agent or to get published. “My aim is to act as an advisory – to look at the work, the presentation, the writer’s CV – all the little facets that might help on the journey to being published.
There’s no guarantee of being published, but I’m happy to share what I’ve learned and to support as best I can, up and coming local writers.”
The scheme is open to non-fiction writers as well as fiction writers as Nicola works as an editor and ghostwriter across both genres. Her latest novel, The Emerald Spy was published by Poolbeg Press in September and tells the true story of a small group of Jewish refugees who were given sanctuary ahead of world war 2 in Termonfeckin. Nicola’s other books are Adele, which tells the life story of Fred Astaire’s sister, The Nanny at Number 43, a Victorian suspense set in Drogheda and December Girl, set in Dowth in the Boyne Valley. She also works as a screenwriter and has number of TV series in development.
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To apply to the mentorship scheme, writers are asked to send a short biography, a sample of their work (up to 5,000 words for fiction or a brief outline of the book if non-fiction) and a short
statement on what they hope to achieve on the mentorship to info@antain.ie. The scheme is open to writers living in Louth and writers have until the 31st December 2022 to apply. “I look forward to seeing the projects that are brewing out there and hopefully, helping someone achieve their writing dream in 2023,” said Nicola. To learn more about Nicola’s work visit www.nicolacassidy.com or follow her on Instagram and Twitter @nicola_cassidy_. Nicola has been in residence at An Táin Arts Centre for three months. The members of An Táin Arts Centre book club will be reading ‘The Emerald Spy’ in January and Nicola will join the group for an author Q&A on the 26th January.
