Three local Wicklow-based writers have been selected by the Irish Writers Centre to receive a mentorship under the National Mentoring Programme.  

Following a national callout where over 300 applications were received, 37 writers from across Ireland were selected to receive a mentorship with Abbie White, Eleanor O'Reilly and Noline Foley, emerging as the successful Wicklow applicants.

Funded by Wicklow Arts Office and the Arts Council, the programme is an investment in the long-term literary reputation of the region and will potentially have life-changing effect on Abbie, Eleanor, and Noline writing careers.

The hope for the National Mentoring Programme is that the chosen mentees will go on to write great works of literature with the support and guidance of their chosen mentor. This form of peer-to-peer teaching is increasingly popular in literature, formalising the process whereby successful writers pass on their craft and experience to the next generation of writers across the island.

Abbie White is a fiction and non-fiction writer as well as an occasional poet based in Laragh. After studying creative writing in UCD for four years, coupled with a lifelong passion for creativity, Abbie hopes to publish her work and continue doing what she loves for the rest of her life.

Eleanor O'Reilly is a full-time teacher of English and Classical Studies at Gorey Community School, Eleanor is an international Award-Winning writer and novelist. Her debut novel ‘M for Mammy’ is an Irish Times Best Seller.

Noline Foley is a fiction writer based in Arklow, Noline writes about social issues, attitudes, and prejudices in the nineteen fifties and sixties Ireland and has published in Stories from the Waterside, Undercover Wexford and was shortlisted for an Irish Times writing award.

Running since 2017, previous recipients of the mentorship have described the experience as having been invaluable. This programme has numerous published authors among its alumni, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Fiona Scarlett, and Victoria Kennefick.