Roddy Lumsden Memorial Mentorship

Roddy Lumsden (1966-2020) was a widely acclaimed and innovative poet – and left his mark on a generation of upcoming UK poets, including Sarah Howe, Kayo Chingonyi and Ahren Warner. Roddy was a poet of rare quality who offered his time to supporting and encouraging the work of emerging poets, through his editorial insights, his fostering of a poetic community, and willingness to champion newer voices.

As someone who benefited from such generosity earlier in his writing life, poet Niall Campbell aims to honour Roddy’s legacy through the spirit of advocating for a new generation of writers. Building on Roddy’s guidance over the last two decades, this mentorship scheme seeks to develop and showcase new voices in the Scottish literary scene.

Award: Four poets will each receive 4 one hour mentoring sessions with award-winning poet Niall Campbell over a 10 month period. Sessions will be delivered via Zoom or at the Scottish Poetry Library (dependent on public health advice). Reasonable travel costs will be covered by the SPL.

A showcase event will take place at the SPL in October 2022.

Eligibility:

• The Roddy Lumsden Memorial Mentorships are for Scottish poets, defining ‘Scottish’ as being born in Scotland, raised in Scotland, or being an ongoing resident of Scotland. Writing can be submitted in English or Scots. As some meetings may be in-person, travel to Edinburgh might be required.
• Please submit a poetry portfolio of max 8 pages, published or unpublished, and a short outline (max 500 words) of your writing experience thus far, and how you would like your writing to develop.
• Entries via a digital portal (e.g. MS Word doc attached to an email)are preferred. If you wish to submit your entry via hard copy, please send it to the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh, EH8 8DT marking the envelope Roddy Lumsden Mentorship.

Application:

Please include:

• Name
• Full contact details
• A poetry portfolio (max. 8 pages) and a short outline (max. 500 words) of your writing experience thus far, and how you would like your writing to develop.

Timeline:

The deadline for applications is Monday 28^th February at 5pm, and entrants will be notified by the end of March, with mentoring dates to be agreed with each mentee.

Selection Panel:

Samuel Tongue (SPL Project Coordinator) and Alice Carr (Communications and Administration Officer, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust) will sift applications and send a longlist on to Niall from which he will select the final four poets.

How to submit:

Please email samuel.tongue@spl.org.uk

Sam can also help with any queries or clarification about the mentorship.