Aspiring Canadian Writers recognizes and develops unpublished Canadian writers by providing mentoring opportunities with acclaimed, published writers.
Founder Heidi Stock launched this new initiative in April 2012 with the Aspiring Canadian Poets Contest (which ran on an annual basis to 2017), followed by a one-time contest for unsigned singer-songwriters in 2014 with Industry Partner, Songwriters Association of Canada. We created a new contest in 2015 for aspiring screenwriters and were also a supporting sponsor of the Toronto Screenwriting Conference that year.
In 2017, we published Mentor Me, our guide for aspiring writers containing instruction and advice from acclaimed writers and industry experts in poetry, songwriting, screenwriting, and musical theatre. We're grateful for the feedback we've received from readers and also for reviews from book industry professionals, including a review appearing in the October 15, 2017 issue of Booklist Magazine, the book review journal of the American Library Association. On June 2, 2018, Amy Edelman of IndieReader and Robin Cutler, Director of IngramSpark at Ingram Content Group, announced the winners of the 2018 IndieReader Discovery Awards at BEA/BookCon. Mentor Me won in the Anthology category!
Visit the Writing Guide page and join our mailing list (below) for ongoing discount offers and the latest info on our new mentor opportunities listed on the Mentor Services page.