All Stories announce their second cohort of mentees in their initiative for underrepresented writers of all kinds, alongside a wider programme , new partners, and targeted opportunities for development. 

The successful debut year of All Stories mentoring is being followed by an increased programme for year two, with ten new writers – all of whom write for middle grade and YA audiences – lined up to start their mentorships with experienced editors in October 2022.

All Stories aims to help create the authors of the future who reflect the UK's diverse society, to ensure children's books are as representative and inclusive as possible, supporting aspiring writers in the process of developing and completing a manuscript, along with demystifying the publishing industry through webinars with leading in-house editors and agents.

Numbers of applicants for the 2022-23 programme continued at similar levels to the debut year in 2021-22, and 75% of applications were deemed to be of a standard ready for mentorship, with the mentors finding it difficult to choose between the high-quality submissions.

All Stories’ founder, children’s book editor Catherine Coe, says:
“The industry cannot rest in the drive to improve diversity in children’s books. I am delighted All Stories is able to continue to support writers from underrepresented groups who’d otherwise be unable to afford such opportunities, thanks to funding from Arts Council England and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society. The ten selected mentees are all incredibly talented and dedicated to their writing, and I’m excited to see how they develop over the next nine months.”

This year's mentorship programme, with a specific focus on supporting middle grade and young adult writers, means that the mentees receive ever more tailored support through additional craft-based webinars on aspects such as plot and voice, and audience-specific industry advice, to complement their monthly 1-2-1 mentoring. The mentorships have been extended from six months to nine, to further support the mentees. All Stories will continue its partnership with SCBWI, who are offering a year's free membership to each mentee.

The ten mentees’ backgrounds span the full range of underrepresented groups and they reside across the UK, from London to Scotland, with six of the mentees writing middle grade and four YA.

Shuna Beckett mentored by Genevieve Herr
Cabbi Charles mentored by Emma Roberts 
Habon Jama mentored by Nicki Marshall 
Olivia La Bastide mentored by Jenny Glencross
Taslin Pollock mentored by Emma Young
Olivia-Savannah Roach mentored by Tilda Johnson
Kenechi Udogu mentored by Nicki Marshall
Scar Ward mentored by Catherine Coe
Laura Warminger mentored by Clare Whitston
Elinora Westfall mentored by Kathy Webb

Increased Programme and New Partners

In addition to the new mentorships, All Stories is focusing on developing its outreach, aiming to encourage people from underrepresented groups to consider writing for children.

Offering free writing workshops and writing groups is at the heart of this outreach. Earlier this year, All Stories trialled these opportunities in Essex by partnering with Essex and Thurrock Libraries and Essex Book Festival to provide free writing workshops in libraries, run by award-winning authors Patrice Lawrence and Jane Elson. The plan is to roll out these workshops and writing groups nationwide in 2023 and beyond, through partnerships with libraries and community spaces across the country. Free online writing workshops are also being offered, to ensure anyone in the UK can access these opportunities. They have proved extremely popular, with the sessions fully booked. Participants of all the workshops are invited to join writing groups for further support, so far leading to the creation of four brand new All Stories in-person writing groups and six online writing groups, helping to create the authors of the future.

All Stories is establishing further partnerships to offer additional opportunities, such as with arts organisation METAL (Southend). This includes 1-2-1 mentoring sessions with editors Libby Hamilton and Lucy Rogers, and a talk aimed at secondary school and sixth-form students about entering the children’s book industry, presented by Eishar Brar, Editorial Director at Knights Of.

The programme is always looking for new opportunities to support people from underrepresented groups, both online and in-person, answering to real needs and responding to demand. This has included teaming up with Stanley Arts (Norwood) to offer an additional in-person workshop in July and running an extra online workshop when the first two were fully booked, which was BSL interpreted following demand for this.

These grass roots opportunities are vital, often supporting people new to writing seriously for children, and will be key in making real changes in the industry in terms of diversity and representation.

From 2021-22

Each of the fourteen 2021 mentees fully committed to the mentorship and found their confidence in writing grew significantly. One of the 2021 mentees has already secured agent representation and others will certainly follow. During the mentorship, writers achieved clear milestones including completing first draft manuscripts, full draft revisions and rewrites, proposals, submissions and much more. Mentees achieved other successes in connection to their writing, including:
Winning the Writing Magazine Picture Book Prize
Shortlisting for the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction
Highly Commended in the FAB Prize
Shortlisting for the FAB Prize
Shortlisting for the Salariya-Stratford Picture Book Prize
Shortlisting for the Winchester Writers' Picture Book Prize
Shortlisting for the WriteMentor Children's Novel Award
Longlisting for the WriteMentor Picture Book Prize
Shortlisting for Guppy Books’ Middle Grade Competition
Shortlisting for the Guppy Books Open Submission
Shortlisting for the Wells Festival of Literature Children's Book Competition
Two runners-up in the Golden Egg Award

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