The Write Guide: Mentoring - and a Two-Book Month

As Suffer & Survive (my biography of J. S. Haldane) slips into the world this month, another book slips into proper existence. The Write Guide: Mentoring, published by New Writing North, I co-wrote with Sara Maitland. Sara had co-written before, even co-writing a novel Arky Types with Micheline Wandor, and I can see why she has such a track record in writing partnerships, being terrific to work with.
Sara now runs the mentoring section of The Literary Consultancy, and I first came to know her when she brought me into her Crossing Borders fold, mentoring African writers under a scheme run by Lancaster University and the British Council.
Our own experience of mentoring provided a good platform, but we both learned a great deal by going out and interviewing the leading practitioners in the field. The book comes in three sections: for mentees and emerging writers; mentors; and managers.
It's pleasing to see a blurb from Pat Barker on the back cover: 'Mentoring is an important area of development for writers. I'm very pleased that New Writing North are publishing this guide, which is not only an indispensable tool for writers, but highly readable too.'
We aimed to make the book engaging rather than dry. A roadshow will be introducing the book, alongside this whole concept of mentoring for creative writing (I believe this is the first such book in the world), around the country over the next two months ... check the front page of my website for my own events on that.