Novelist Kit de Waal has launched a bursary to provide a writer on a low income and from a marginalised community with a fully-paid place on the Creative Writing MA at Birkbeck. A travel bursary will be provided to the winner of the scholarship, along with Waterstone’s vouchers to cover the course’s reading list. Kit de Waal, whose debut novel My Name is Leon is due for release with Viking in 2016, said it was her wish to “make dreams come true.” In order to provide additional support to the five shortlisted writers, TLC has joined with the Jo Unwin Literary Agency, The Word Factory, Spread the Word, and Penguin. TLC will be providing editorial support to these writers, who will also get the chance to send their work to a literary agent, be mentored, and get one-on-one advice and consultancy. We look forward to being able to support the shortlisted writers and to seeing the impact of the scheme in the years to come. The scholarship is very much in line with our own Quality Writing for All campaign ethos, and we appreciate that it challenges ideas of diversity in publishing to include all whose voices are marginalised and under-represented, both at an early ’emerging writer’ stage and beyond, on bookshelves and in reviews: this includes care leavers, ex-prisoners, members of BAME communities, people with disabilities, to those of low socioeconomic status.
The scholarship was announced in The Bookseller this week, with further information forthcoming. No previous degree is required in order to apply, but interested candidates must send a sample of work along with a personal statement and proof of financial eligibility. Applications are open until Feburary 2016 and will be considered by a panel of judges including Birkbeck Creative Writing MA Co-ordinator Julia Bell, senior lecturer and author Benjamin Wood, professor Russell Ceyln Jones, senior lecturer Toby Litt, and Paul Sherreard from Spread the Word.
