Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre invites established writers to apply for the 2024 Jessie Kesson Fellowship. This award was established in 2009 by Moniack Mhor to honour Jessie Kesson’s inspirational life and work.
The Jessie Kesson Fellow receives time and space to develop their work, as well as opportunities to expand their practice. This includes delivering creative writing workshops based on or inspired by Jessie Kesson’s life and work, with local youth groups, libraries, or community groups.
The 2024 Jessie Kesson Fellow is Daisy Lafarge
Read more about Daisy and view the shortlist here
Applications for the 2024 Jessie Kesson Fellowship open on Monday 22nd January and close at 23:59 on Thursday 15th February, 2024.
The 2024 Fellow will:
- Live on-site at Moniack Mhor from Monday 26th August – Saturday 14th September 2024.
- Receive a stipend of £350 per week (up to 3 weeks), plus travel and accommodation.
- Have the opportunity to deliver a creative writing workshop based on or inspired by Jessie Kesson’s life and work, with young writers, local youth groups, libraries, or community groups.
- Take part in a public evening event in the form of a reading or lecture.
- Have the option to contribute one piece of work to Moniack Mhor at the end of the residency.
The final terms of the Fellowship will be agreed by the successful candidate and Moniack Mhor.
Eligibility
The fellowship is open to established writers working in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, song-writing, or playwriting. To be eligible for the fellowship, applicants must have had at least one major piece of work published by a UK publishing house (for example, one novel, one short-story collection, one poetry pamphlet or collection, one album, or had one professional production of their work staged). It is also desirable that applicants have experience of delivering workshops, or working with children and young people and/or community groups. The Fellowship is open to UK-based writers. Travel costs within the UK will be covered by the Fellowship. We would particularly encourage applications from those who experience barriers to the writing process.
Application
Please apply by sending one document (preferably in Microsoft Word format):
- A CV which includes previous experience of work with young people and/or community groups.
- A covering letter demonstrating your qualifications for the fellowship and how it would benefit your work.
- A sample of your work (maximum 2,000 words, or 6 pages of poetry, doubled-spaced and single-sided)
- We would also appreciate if you were able to complete our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Monitoring Form, link to online form here. The information in this form is gathered anonymously.
Applications open on Monday 22nd January 2024 and close at 23:59 on Thursday 15th February, 2024. All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by end of April 2024.
Applications should be sent by email to: awards@moniackmhor.org.uk with the subject line Jessie Kesson Fellowship. You will receive an automatic email confirming receipt of your submission. Please contact us on info@moniackmhor.org.uk if you do not receive the automatic reply. (Please do check spam or junk folder first.)
Applications can also be submitted by post to Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, Teavarran, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire IV4 7HT. Please let us know by email or phone if you are submitting by post.
For any enquiries relating to the Jessie Kesson Fellowship, please contact us on awards@moniackmhor.org.uk or telephone 01463 592 828.
Read about our most recent Jessie Kesson Fellows below:
2024 Fellow
2023 Fellows
2022 Fellow
2021 Fellow
