The programme is open for those over the age of 18 and living in Wales at the time of application and throughout the 12-month programme.

Literature Wales is committed to helping create a literary culture that truly represents the diversity of our population in Wales. To this end, we particularly welcome applicants who can explain the relevance of their diverse lived experiences to the projects they would like to develop and deliver. We will encourage applicants to explain in their own words how they are under-represented within Wales’ literary culture, e.g.: 

• Black, Asian or minority ethnic background 
• From a low-income background (individuals who were eligible for free school meals or whose parents were in low-paid jobs, unemployed, or receiving benefits including disability allowances when applicants were 14 years old) 
• people who identify as disabled or who have a long-term health condition  
• LGBTQA+ 

We also particularly welcome applications by Welsh-language facilitators. Literature Wales is committed to helping create a wider pool of Welsh language creative facilitators in all parts of Wales to run Welsh and bilingual projects. 

We will be looking for some experience of facilitating creative writing or literary workshops for health and well-being. 

This opportunity is mainly for early career and mid-career facilitators.  However, as a more experienced facilitator you might find that there are barriers which prevent you from reaching your full potential, or you might want to experiment with a different literary form or language, gain confidence working with totally different groups or want to manage a project yourself for the first time.  

Everyone will have a different definition of what early or mid-career is, and where they believe themselves to be on their journey as a writer. If you are unsure if this is the right programme for you at this stage of your writing career, please get in touch to discuss.

The assessment panel will include members of the Literature Wales team of staff, in addition to external experts in the field of health, well-being and/or education. We will be looking for innovation, passion and a clear focus in terms of your ambitions and aspiration as a creative community participation facilitator. We will also look at the suitability of this programme at this stage of your career as a facilitator.  

We will aim to bringing together a diverse and representative group of writers in terms of geography, writing experience, languages and any lived experience noted in the application that will present a new perspective into Welsh writing and community engagement.

We will contact all applicants by early September 2023. As we are expecting many applications, we may not be able to provide detailed feedback for each applicant. However, where possible we will provide a short, personalised line of feedback, and advice on other opportunities Literature Wales and partners may have available. 

We are aware that correspondence regarding unsuccessful applications can have a negative impact on your health and well-being. We give our pledge to respect and value each individual application, giving it due consideration and attention. 

A small team of Literature Wales staff members will have access to your application. We may get in touch in the future with personalised opportunities, based on your work and your expertise. To enable Literature Wales to comply with data protection law (GDPR), please complete the relevant section at the end of the application form to let us know if you don’t want to be contacted by Literature Wales about offers in the future.

Important dates 

Deadline to apply: 5.00 pm, Thursday 29 June 2023
Assessment window (including potential interviews): July and August 2023
All applicants informed of decision: by early September 2023
Online meetings with Literature Wales staff: September and October 2023
Residential course at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre: Thursday afternoon 26 – Sunday afternoon 29 October 2023
Monthly training sessions: November 2023 – March 2024; exact dates to be confirmed with cohort 

Mentoring: four one-to-one sessions with a mentor
Project Development: September 2023 – March 2024
Project Delivery (funding permitting): March 2024 – September 2024
 

Six facilitators will be selected for the programme. After initial one-to-one and group meetings online in September/October 2023, a face-to-face, immersive, long weekend will be spent at Tŷ Newydd, Thursday afternoon 26 – Sunday afternoon 29 October 2023 with tutors clare e potter and Jill Teague. Whilst the cohort will meet a day earlier to network and to receive personalised training, this course is also open to the public, and will focus on poetry for health and well-being. 

Monthly, online training sessions will then be organised, November 2023 – March 2024. 

During this initial six months, you will work with your mentor and with the learning from these sessions to develop a participation project for health and well-being, using creative writing and literature as tools. In addition to looking at the impact goals of your project on the selected participants and the creative content and structure of the project, you will also develop a plan looking at project development and management, including running budgets, capturing and communicating impact, safeguarding the groups, forging partnerships, fundraising and more.  

Literature Wales will work with the facilitators to assess successfully planned projects and will award funding for successful facilitators to deliver their planned projects, March 2024 – September 2024.  

After the 12-month programme, we will continue to offer support to the cohort by checking in, offering advice and inviting the facilitators to further networking and training opportunities. This is a long-term investment in the facilitators’ development. Literature Wales will also work with the facilitators to encourage the longevity of their projects.

Writing Well is a bilingual programme, and we welcome applications from Wales-based facilitators who write in Welsh and/or English. Facilitators who are new to working in Welsh but who are interested in getting started are very welcome, as are facilitators who enjoy experimenting with both languages in their creative work. All events will be delivered through the medium of English or Welsh, depending on the language preference of the cohort. Live interpretation will be on offer where required. 

Most of the activities will be delivered virtually in the evenings, although we will work alongside the cohort to identify convenient times and dates for all to join in with the monthly online sessions. We ask for commitment from every member of the cohort to attend all events, but if something urgent or unexpected prevents a writer from attending, recordings might be made available to watch later. The team at Literature Wales are always on hand to support the writers and help ensure that all members of the cohort benefit from the programme. 

We estimate that we will organise activities and set tasks that will require approximately 10 whole days of your time during the first six months, but many of these events will be scheduled to avoid interfering with office hours. It’s up to you how many extra hours you will then be able to allocate towards developing your own projects during the year. 

Most of the programme’s core activity will be delivered online to ensure everybody can attend, regardless of their location. The programme will also include a residential weekend which you will be required to attend, at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, Thursday 26 October – Sunday 29 October.  

Yes. The Literature Wales team are available to discuss any concerns and requirements before and throughout the programme. Please get in touch with us. An Access Fund is available to enable full participation in events for writers with disabilities or illnesses, who may have additional access requirements.  

For information about the accessibility of the Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, please visit our website: http://www.tynewydd.wales/the-house/access