Call out for Clydebuilt 17

by St Mungo's Mirrorball

St. Mungo’s Mirrorball Verse Apprenticeship Scheme Clydebuilt, in partnership with the Edwin Morgan Trust, invites applications for Clydebuilt 17

In partnership with the Edwin Morgan Trust, we are excited to launch our call for emerging poets to apply for Clydebuilt 17. Edwin Morgan was an internationalist, writing across forms, themes, and languages and yet he was also very much a Glasgow-based poet; it is with this spirit that St Mungo’s Mirrorball designed the Clydebuilt Verse Apprenticeship Scheme. Founded in 2007, the scheme provides intensive support for poets at an early stage of their writing careers, encouraging a greater dialogue between them and more experienced practitioners. Mentors have included poets such as Liz Lochhead, Gerry Cambridge, John Glenday, Gerry Loose, Gerrie Fellows, A. B. Jackson, J. L. Williams, Miriam Gamble, and Alexander Hutchison

The scheme recruits no more than four poets who have yet to have a first full collection published (not counting pamphlet publication) and are not currently receiving any support with their development, e.g. not enrolled on an MLitt programme or fee-paying course. This mentoring will be given by an experienced poet-tutor over the course of 12 months, roughly from September 2024 to September 2025, and will consist of 5 group tutorials and 2 sets of one-to-one sessions which will be free to the participants. At these tutorials there will be a discussion of pre-submitted work with a mix of peer and tutor feedback. This will encourage participants to develop not only their own writing style but their ability to critique others. Over the year the participants will develop a portfolio of poems. Participants will give a reading of some of their resulting work along with their tutor at the end of the 12 months at a dedicated St Mungo’s Mirrorball event.

A year of mentoring is a rare gift. I think my year on the Clydebuilt scheme enhanced my bravery: about when to be brutal and when to be playful; when to re-shape or abandon; to leave my ego outside the room and to trust the poem. Apply!
                                            Mark Russell, Clydebuilt 5 (with Alexander Hutchison)

Clydebuilt gave me deadlines (which I need!) and a platform to try out new things

in a friendly and supportive environment.

                                             Juana Adcock, Clydebuilt 9 (with Liz Lochhead)

Eligibility

A panel will review the applications and decide whether any interviews are necessary. The chosen tutor/mentor will be involved in the final decision on the apprentices for their group.

To be eligible to be an apprentice, applicants must be living in Scotland, cannot be involved in any other writing course or receiving any other structured writing support as of September 2024, and should not yet have brought out a full-length poetry collection. Please note that some meetings might be online but in general participants will need to travel to Glasgow or an appropriate central belt location for meetings and events.

We warmly welcome applications from underrepresented and marginalised groups. We are actively working on widening participation and representation in the Clydebuilt poetry scheme and St Mungo’s Mirrorball now and in future years.

If you are interested in applying to be one of the four verse apprentices, please provide the

following:

● Full contact details

● A brief biography of your writing career to date – up to 150 words 

(You may wish to include information about when you started writing, your poetic inspirations, and/or the type of poetry you write; any writing courses / workshops / events you have been involved in; any poems / pamphlets you have published or any writing awards you have received, though please note there is no expectation for applicants to have any work already published.)

● A statement of your short-term and long-term poetry goals – up to 150 words

● An outline of what you hope to achieve from the support over the next 12 months – up to 150 words

● A clear indication of the time commitment you are able to give both in terms of writing and attendance (online or in-person) at the tutorial programme (September 2024 – September 2025)

● 5 poems as typical examples of your work

E-mail your submission in one document (Microsoft Word document preferred) to Pip Osmond-Williams (Edwin Morgan Trust Administration and Communications Assistant) edwinmorgantrust@gmail.com by the closing date of Wednesday 31^st July 2024.

If you have any query regarding eligibility or the application process please do not hesitate to contact us or Pip.