For a couple of years now, I’ve been informally offering individual mentorships to authors who’ve reached out to me for publishing and craft assistance. I recognized that this mentorship could serve more people if it were open rather than repeating it many times to one person. This year, I’m mentoring two South African writers and looking to add two (or more) Batswana writers or writers from other Southern African countries. My focus on these countries for now is because they are underrepresented in speculative fiction and is also based on the experiences and struggles I encountered as a Motswana writer from a Southern African country trying to break into publishing. If you’re interested, please email your bio, writing sample, and goals to ikemelementorship@gmail.com. The writing sample can be a short story or a novel (in progress) excerpt.

Note: This mentorship is for unpublished and published writers. You don’t need to have many or any publications or complete/incomplete works, except passion, talent, and discipline. Meetings will be virtual. Meeting dates and times to follow. Dependent on how many applications I receive this March, the submission period will close at the end of March or April 2026.