Professional Development Programmes

Mentorship Programme

The NZSA adult mentorship programme is for writers and illustrators who want professional development, a safe space to discuss their work, intellectual community, role models, accountability and substantive feedback. Selection for places in this popular and successful programme is based on a competitive application process, open only to NZSA members.

Youth Mentor Programme

This programme allows 4 secondary school mentees, access to professional writers to develop their craft.

CompleteMS

This successful programme provides writers with critical feedback on an advanced work of poetry, fiction, short fiction or non-fiction in order to bring it closer to publishable standards. Selection for places in this popular programme is based on a competitive application process, open only to NZSA members.

StartWrite

This popular programme operates throughout the year, offering 28 subsidised assessments. StartWrite offers a written assessment of a chapter sample (up to 6,000 words) and a 2-page synopsis. This non-competitive programme is particularly useful for writers seeking feedback at the early stage of their project and can assist with content, viability of concept, structure, character, and plot development, suggesting improvements and advice on the next step. StartWrite assessments are available at full price once all subsidised assessments have been utilised.

These programmes are made possible with support from Creative New Zealand.