In Season One of Emerging Critics, 20 writers worked with mentors on the Emerging Critics Mentoring Programme. Mentoring was offered in small groups run by the following mentors: Alan Taylor; Rosemary Goring; David Robinson; Kaite Welsh; and Dave Coates. Mentees received guidance on writing literary criticism for print and online platforms and received individual feedback. We published the best of the new writing on these Emerging Critics pages at the end of the mentoring period.
This time around our mentors are Andrew Crumey, Rosemary Goring, Allan Hunter, David Robinson, Allan Radcliffe and roving consultant mentor, Laura Waddell.
‘A wonderful experience that helped me consider both my own practice of reviewing and its demands as a career… I would recommend it highly’ – Participating Mentee
‘Their minds were sparkling off each other’ – David Robinson, Mentor
‘I always came away feeling informed and excited to crack on with more writing’ – Participating Mentee
‘It was an upbeat process with time to talk…clarity of thought was lacking and that is what we worked on’ – Rosemary Goring, Mentor
‘I would recommend this programme to anyone who enjoys literature and would like to write books reviews… it is incredibly supportive and interesting with a varied curriculum, interesting recommended reading, and full of great networking opportunities’ – Participating Mentee
‘I was delighted that they were paying so much attention to their critical writing’ – Dave Coates, Mentor
‘I feel a marked difference between my approach to the review prior to the course and afterwards’ – Participating Mentee
The following is a list of the literary magazines, podcasts and newsprint outlets in Scotland which cover all things books. Let us know if we’ve missed one!
Scottish Review of Books – scottishreviewofbooks.org
Gutter – guttermag.co.uk
Octavius Magazine – octaviusmagazine.com
New Writing Scotland – via arts.gla.ac.uk
Edinburgh Review – edinburgh-review.com
Dundee Writes – dundeewrites.wordpress.com
Female Gaze – femalegazereview.com
The Dark Horse – thedarkhorsemagazine.com
Pushing Out the Boat – pushingouttheboat.co.uk
The Eildon Tree – via scotborders.gov.uk
The Bottle Imp – via arts.gla.ac.uk
Thi Wurd – thi-wurd.com/
The Drouth – thedrouth.org
Lallans – lallans.co.uk
Northwords Now – northwordsnow.co.uk
Product Magazine – productmagazine.co.uk
The Inkwell magazine – publishedinburgh.blogspot.co.uk
Glasgow Review of Books – glasgowreviewofbooks.com
The Scottish Historical Journal – euppublishing.com
The New Shetlander – shetland-communities.org.uk
The Island Review – theislandreview.com
Caledonian Mercury – caledonianmercury.com
Scottish Review – scottishreview.net
Inciting Sparks – incitingsparks.org
The Wee Review – theweereview.com
The Art Mag – artmag.co.uk
Map Magazine – mapmagazine.co.uk
The Skinny – theskinny.co.uk
The List – list.co.uk
Blogs (Scotland)
Book Witch – bookwitch.wordpress.com
Open Book Publishers Blog – blogs.openbookpublishers.com
National Library of Scotland – blog.nls.uk
Bloody Scotland – www.bloodyscotland.com
Scottish Poetry Library Blog – scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
Clear Minded Creative – clearmindedcreative.com
Cornflower – cornflower.typepad.com
Scottish Book Trust – scottishbooktrust.com
Blogs (outwith Scotland)
Page Turner – www.newyorker.com
The Millions – themillions.com
Book Riot – bookriot.com
Electric Literature – electricliterature.com
NY Books – nybooks.com
Quill And Quire – quillandquire.com
Times Literary Supplement – timescolumns.typepad.com
Far Away by the Something-or-Other – foyles.co.uk
A Little Blog of Books – alittleblogofbooks.com
Turnaround – theturnaroundblog.com
Modern Mrs Darcy – modernmrsdarcy.com
The Paris Review – theparisreview.org
The Guardian Books Blog – theguardian.com
The Offing – theoffingmag
LRB Blog – lrb.co.uk
Emerging Critics: Reviewing for Newspapers – via podomatic.com
Hitchhikers Guide to Scottish Literature – Irvine Welshvia soundcloud.com
Scottish Poetry Library – scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
Edinburgh World Heritage – ewht.org.uk
Scots Whayhae – scotswhayhae.com
Scottish Book Trust – scottishbooktrust.com
BBC Radio Scotland – bbc.co.uk
Reviews, critical essays, extracts, poetry, interviews, features
The Herald / Sunday Herald – heraldscotland.com
National – thenational.scot
The Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday – scotsman.com
The Times Scotland – thetimes.co.uk
Sunday Times – thetimes.co.uk
Mail on Sunday Scotland – dailymail.co.uk
Daily Record / Sunday Mail- dailyrecord.co.uk
Press & Journal – pressandjournal.co.uk
Inverness Courier – inverness-courier.co.uk
West Highland Free Press – whfp.com
Interesting articles and blogs on rights and payment for critical and creative content
Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age – lse.ac.uk
Why English Writers Accept Being Treated Like Dirt – blogs.spectator.co.uk
Travel Freelance Writers – thewritelife.com
20 Highest Paying Media Sites for Freelance Journalists – webwriterspotlight.com
BBC ‘paying prospective scriptwriters the equivalent of £2 an hour’theguardian.com
Writers Reign – writersreign.co.uk
London Freelance – londonfreelance.org
Who Pays for Lit Crit – whopaysforlitcrit.co.uk
Who Pays Writers – whopayswriters.com
Scottish Book Trust – scottishbooktrust.com
ArtNewspaper – theartnewspaper.com