Join Writer in Residence Dapo Adeola's writers' clinics

Published on: 03 October 2021

BookTrust Writer in Residence Dapo Adeola has just announced details of some fab new online writers' clinics to support children's authors from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds - here's how you can get involved!

BookTrust Writer in Residence Dapo Adeola. Photography by Tim Lane

Hey everyone!

Dapo Adeola here, as part of my residency with BookTrust I’m focusing on the art of storytelling. One side of this will involve me talking to those who create children’s books and another part, which is the focus of this post, involves sharing their expertise and critique with those who want to create children’s literature. 

To do this I’m putting together a “Writers' clinic” for underrepresented aspiring children’s book authors to receive feedback from, and have their stories critiqued by, myself and other industry professionals in a group setting. 

The sessions will take place online monthly on the last Friday or Saturday of the month over the course of my residency (from October 2021 to March 2022), with each group consisting of three authors, myself and one of my industry peers. Each session will last two hours. 

These sessions are primarily for people from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds in children’s literature and as such the volunteers that will be offering their advice are as diverse a list as one could hope for in the UK kid-lit world. The list includes:

• Jamilah Tompkins-Bigelow
• Rashmi Sirdeshpande 
• Laura Henry-Allain 
• Swapna Haddow
• Gareth Peters
• Ed Vere
• Jasmine Richards 
• Ross Montgomery 
• Rachael Davis
• Karl Newson
• Bethan Woollvin 

To apply you’ll need to submit your email address along with a short summary of which type of text you’re writing (picture book, early readers/young fiction, middle grade etc) and which demographic you hail from (this last bit of info will assist me with making sure I can allocate you to a group with a industry pro who is better suited to understand and give relevant feedback for the type of story you want to tell) via this email: [email protected]. Please DO NOT send us your completed manuscript at this stage, just a short summary.

Once we’ve received your application we’ll then get in touch with successful applicants via email with a date/time for your session as well as what we’ll be requiring you to bring to the session in the form of a text (word count etc) for critique.

There are a limited amount of spaces available and they’ll be allocated on a first come first serve basis with us closing applications at 11pm on Monday 18 October or once we’ve filled all the slots, so please don’t snooze on this opportunity!