Our funder, the Publishers’ Association, now has a Megaphone page on their website. You can read my brief report on the project, and Avantika’s blog about her experience, there: https://www.publishers.org.uk/activities/campaigns/inclusivity/megaphone-writers-project/

And a reminder to meet the Megaphone writers, and some of the authors featured in the groundbreaking  A Change is Gonna Come anthology , at the Birmingham Literature Festival on 8th October 2017: http://www.birmingham-box.co.uk/event/making-change-shaking-up-writing-for-young-adults/

Super brief update on everything: Events coming up in 2017:
LIVERPOOL: We’ll be at the Bluecoat on 30th September for a panel in conjunction with their Abacus exhibition, about alternative education. http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/events/view/events/3735

BIRMINGHAM: We’ve joined forces with Little Tiger, publishers of the new BAME-authored YA anthology. A Change is Gonna Come, for a writer networking day which will be packed full of energy and ideas. Join us on 8th October at the Birmingham Book Festival for Making Change.

YORK/National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE): Leila Rasheed will be presenting a paper on Megaphone at the NAWE conference in November in York.

We’ve got together with Stripes and their exciting new anthology: A Change is Gonna Come, to create an afternoon of networking, talks and panels as part of the Birmingham Literature Festival 2017. This is a fantastic chance to meet the Megaphone mentees and the new writers published in A Change is Gonna Come – plus it will be hosted by one of the funniest authors around, bestselling Ayisha Malik. You will get to hear what it’s like to be  published (from the anthology authors), how to hook an agent (from our Megaphone mentees), and how to turn your passion into a project that can secure funding and make change (from Leila). There will be such a range of expertise here, from writers to publishers to people working in various roles in publishing, that you won’t be able to help leaving without learning something you didn’t know before, and maybe meeting someone who’ll change your writing life… Click the link for tickets. See you there!

https://www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/event/making-change-shaking-up-writing-for-young-adults-a-writer-networking-afternoon/

UV is a great opportunity for anyone writing for children or teenagers:

Last year, Write Now was a welcome new opportunity for writers from groups under-represented in publishing and authorship. Joyce Efia Harmer, who was one of the Megaphone participants, was also successful on that scheme, so they clearly have great taste! I’m glad to hear it is back again. Here’s the info. :

WriteNow, Penguin Random House UK’s programme to find, mentor and publish new writers currently under-represented on the UK’s bookshelves, opens for applications today.

Through WriteNow we’re looking for new writers from a socio-economically marginalised background, LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) and BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) writers, or writers with a disability, to help make books and publishing more representative of the society we live in.

At the heart of the campaign are three insight days in London (9 September), Bristol (16 September) and Newcastle (23 September) where 150 writers will have the opportunity to get one-to-one feedback on their work from an editor, and meet literary agents and published authors.

10 of those writers will then be invited to join our year-long mentoring programme, working with a Penguin Random House editor to develop their manuscript. Ultimately, we hope to publish these 10 writers.

 Find out more and apply before 16 July at: http://www.write-now.live/