Mayo Writer Gemma Marren Selected For The Irish Writes Centre's National Mentoring Programme

Date: 11-08-2022

Local writer, Gemma Marren has been selected by the Irish Writers Centre to receive professional literary mentoring over the next eight months from an acclaimed Irish writer of her choice. This mentoring opportunity is funded by Mayo County Councils Arts Service and the Arts Council. The funding ensures that Gemma receives this potentially life-changing support free of charge.

After a national call out, Gemma was one of 37 writers to be selected from over three hundred applications.

Gemma Marren is a fiction writer and academic copy-editor. She received a Mayo County Council Tyrone Guthrie Award in 2019, was shortlisted for the 2016 Cúirt/Over the Edge New Writers Showcase and was an Irish Writers Centre 2015 Novel Fair winner. She lives near Claremorris, Co. Mayo with her husband and four children.

The mentoring process involves four meetings between Gemma and her chosen professional writer (to be announced). In advance of each meeting, the mentor reads up to 10,000 words of Gemma’s writing, then shares their critical feedback and advice.

Mayo County Council Arts Service have made a significant investment in literature over the years and the support for this mentoring opportunity not only is an investment in Gemma but it is also an investment in the long-term literary reputation of Mayo.

The Irish Writers Centre’s mission is to support a vibrant and diverse community of writers of all types and talents to develop their craft, capacity and confidence to thrive as a writer in the world.

Running since 2017, the programme now has numerous published authors among its alumni, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Fiona Scarlett, and Victoria Kennefick to name just a few.