Mentor Series

The Mentor Series is Back

The Mentor Series for 2022-2023 is now closed for applications. Stay tuned for our announcement on the fellows for this coming year. 

Mentor Series 2022–2023 Applications

Applications for the 2022-2023 Mentor Series are now closed. The Loft Literary Center invites poets, fiction, and nonfiction writers to apply. This program offers advanced criticism and professional development opportunities to 12 writers: four each in the genres of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

This year's program mentors are Kimberly Blaeser (poetry), Su Hwang (poetry), Rajiv Mohabir (nonfiction), Ryan Berg (nonfiction), Helena María Viramontes (fiction), and A. Rafael Johnson (fiction). 

Here are the program schedule and guidelines for this year's program. 

Congratulations 2021–2022 Fellows

The Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose offers twelve emerging Minnesota writers the opportunity to work intensively with six nationally acclaimed writers of prose and poetry.

Congratulations to the 2021–2022 Mentor Series Fellows: in creative nonfiction, Lizabeth Fiedorow Sjaastad, Irna Landrum, Maureen Ramirez, and Kou Thao; in poetry, Ty Chapman, Eva Song Margolis, Jna Shelomith, and ​Rupa Shenoy-Thadhani; and in fiction, Jessica Eckerstorfer, Alice Paige, Ashley Richardson, and Matt Sharkey-Smith.

The Loft Mentor Series is supported by grants from the Jerome Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and by Loft members.

2021–2022 Loft Mentor Series Recipients
Upcoming Mentor Series Events
There are no upcoming events for this category.

About the Mentor Series

The Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose offers twelve early career Minnesota writers the opportunity to work intensively with six nationally acclaimed writers of prose and poetry for one fellowship year. Offered since 1979, the Mentor Series is the Loft's oldest mentorship program. The Mentor Series is funded by the Jerome Foundation, the NEA, and Loft Members.

An incomplete list of past program mentors include Danez Smith, Marlon James, Tracy K. Smith, Grace Paley, Lorrie Moore, Louise Erdrich, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Mark Doty, Diane Glancy, Toi Derricotte, Dani Shapiro, Allison Hedge Coke, Richard Blanco, Dinty Moore, Nick Flynn, Evelina Chao, Michael Ondaatje, Sharon Olds, June Jordan, Joy Harjo, Gerald Stern, Sandra Cisneros, Dorianne Laux, Yusef Komanyaaka, Alexs Pate, David Mura, Li-Young Lee, Martin Espada, Deborah Keenan, Jim Moore, Nikki Giovanni, Charles Baxter, Maxine Hong Kingston, Nuruddin Farah, Rita Dove, Jessica Hagedorn, Phillip Levine, Marge Piercy, Agha Shahid Ali, Lynda Barry, Ai, Amy Bloom, G.E. Patterson, Sigrid Nunez, Barrie Jean Borich, Heid Erdrich, Diego Vazquez, Jr., Kao Kalia Yang, Sun Yung Shin, Diane Wilson, Vu Tran, Sugi Ganeshananthan, and many, many more.