Four Writers selected for the Irish Writers Centre’s National Mentoring Programme 2024

Fingal County Council Arts Office have partnered with the Irish Writers Centre to offer valuable professional development opportunities to writers through the Irish Writers Centre’s National Mentoring Programme.

This year, four writers – Sam Furlong Tighe, Beth Storey, Joshua Manuel-Oni, and Mary Lennon – have been selected to receive eight months of one-on-one literary mentoring from a renowned Irish writer of their choice.

After a national call out, 39 writers have been selected from over 400 applicants. Fingal Arts Office funds the literary mentorships along with the Arts Council of Ireland to guarantee that the best applicants from the county would be selected. This funding ensures the selected writers receive this transformative mentorship free of charge, fostering both personal growth and the literary reputation of the region.

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Brian McDonagh, said: “We are blessed with a rich and illustrious literary tradition. My own mother Maeve Ingoldsby was a writer, and I know how valuable scholarships like this are. Every big-name writer like James Joyce or Edna O’Brien started as an unknown writer and collaboration and mentoring have always been powerful tools for development.

“I’d like to give my congratulations to our writers on being selected for this prestigious programme and my sincerest thanks to the mentors for their participation. I am looking forward to seeing and hearing how the results unfold.”

Sarah O’Neill, County Arts Officer, added, “Fingal County Council is proud to support our writers in partnership with the Irish Writers Centre. This opportunity will enable Fingal’s talented writers to receive sustained creative and professional mentoring from an acclaimed Irish writer of their choosing and they will be supported to build on their creative excellence while fostering professional growth.”

The Irish Writers Centre’s mission is to support a vibrant and diverse community of writers of all types and talents to develop their craft, capacity and confidence to thrive as a writer in the world. The hope for the National Mentoring Programme is that the chosen mentees will go on to write the next great works of literature with the support and sustenance of their chosen mentor. It is a form of peer-to-peer teaching that is increasingly popular in literature, formalising the process whereby successful writers pass on their craft and experience to the next generation of writers across the island.

Running since 2017, the programme now has numerous published authors among its alumni, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Fíona Scarlett, Will Keohane, Alice Kinsella and Victoria Kennefick to name just a few.

As the leading support and development organisation for writers since 1991, the Irish Writers Centre (IWC) carries out its work, online and in-person, on an all-island basis. The centre provides many ways and means for writers to develop their skill, advance their ambitions and join a vibrant and diverse community of people who share their passion and purpose. IWC supports writers in the following ways: through development programmes, residencies, mentoring opportunities, resources, creative writing courses and events.

About the Artists

Mary Lennon

Mary Lennon is a writer whose work spans both fiction and non-fiction. She co-authored Across the Water: Irish Women’s Lives in Britain (Virago Press), the first book to document the experiences of Irish women in Britain. Her stories have appeared on BBC Radio 4, RTÉ Radio 1, and in journals like Crannog and Culture Matters. Her novel Amethyst Country (Troubador UK, 2022), set on Achill Island, was a winner at the 2017 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair. Mary has also taught Creative Writing in adult and prison education for several years.

Joshua Manuel-Oni

Joshua Manuel-Oni is a Nigerian-Irish writer. Reading authors like Derek Landy and Eoin Colfer sparked his passion for writing, and his work blends literary fiction, Bildungsroman, and magical realism, often exploring deeper meanings.

Sam Furlong Tighe

Sam Furlong is a writer who works in a box office. In 2023, they completed an MA in Poetry at the Seamus Heaney Center at Queen’s University Belfast, where they were awarded The Ireland Chair of Poetry Student Award by Paul Muldoon. Their work has been published in or is forthcoming from Poetry Ireland Review, Propel, Banshee, The Pig’s Back, and elsewhere. They were selected for Poetry Ireland’s Introductions by Tara Bergin and have read poetry on the Abbey Theatre stage.

Beth Storey

Beth Storey is a writer whose work has appeared in Trasna, The Martello, Sans. Press' The Archive, The New Word Order, An Áitiúil, and the Smashing Times newsletter. Her work is also forthcoming in the From the Well annual anthology published by Cork County Council.


Image caption: Irish Writers Centre’s National Mentoring Programme 2024 recipients