The 2024 Career Mentorship Program began on March 23, 2024, and ended on June 23, 2024. To find out about the next Career Mentorship Program period, monitor this page, or sign up for SFWA’s mentorship listserv here.

The SFWA Mentoring Initiative is an all-volunteer service provided free of charge. The Mentorship Committee aims to connect writers who have questions, whether they are emerging writers or have expansive career experience, with each other with the objective of providing community, sharing knowledge, and offering networking opportunities. This endeavor is focused on professional development rather than artistic development.

There are two distinct mentorship opportunities as part of the Mentoring Initiative.

Our Conference Mentorship Program primarily takes place during the Nebula Conference. It is an hour-long Q&A session for mentors and mentees to connect and discuss publication industry topics or even simply learn the basics of conference attendance. The Conference Mentorship Program does not extend beyond the Nebula Conference.

The Career Mentorship Program occurs over a three-month period. The purpose of the program is to foster an informative, nurturing, and diverse environment that will aid in the professional development and community connectedness of emerging or isolated speculative fiction writers. Please be aware of the following:

• Mentorships are open to all SFWA members as well as to aspiring members. You do not need to be a member to participate as a mentor or a mentee.
• You must be 21 or older in order to participate.
• Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a space for every applicant.
• There is no benefit to applying early. Take your time to consider what you want out of this program, so we can best match you to your mentor or mentee, if a spot is available for you.
• The MENTOR application is here.
• Mentors will be matched to mentees chosen in a weighted lottery.
• The MENTEE application is here.
• Mentees will be chosen in a weighted lottery, but the matches will still be made individually on the basis of application answers.
• The Committee asks that if you have had a successful match as a mentee in the last three years, you don’t apply again until three years have passed. If your match was dissolved or incomplete, we’re happy to match you again.

Please contact mentor@sfwa.org with any questions.  Thank you for your patience as we continue to develop best practices for mentorships in the science fiction and fantasy community.