In partnership with Edwin Morgan Trust, St Mungo's Mirrorballis launching the call for emerging poets to apply for Clydebuilt 18. 

The Clydebuilt Verse Apprenticeship Scheme was founded in 2007, the scheme provides intensive support for poets at an early stage of their writing careers, encouraging a greater dialogue between them and more experienced practitioners. Mentors have included poets such as Niall Campbell, John Glenday, Miriam Gamble, J. L. Williams, Gerry Cambridge, Gerry Loose, Liz Lochhead, Gerrie Fellows, A. B. Jackson, and Alexander Hutchison.

The scheme recruits up to four poets who are yet to have a first full-length collection published (not counting pamphlet publication) and are not currently receiving any support with their development as a writer, e.g. not enrolled on an MLitt programme or fee-paying course. This mentoring will be given by an experienced poet-tutor over the course of 12 months, roughly from September 2025 to September 2026, and will consist of 5 group tutorials and 2 sets of one-to-one sessions which will be free to the participants. At these tutorials there will be a discussion of pre-submitted work with a mix of peer and tutor feedback. This will encourage participants to develop not only their own writing style but their ability to critique others. Over the year the participants will develop a portfolio of poems. Participants will give a reading of some of their resulting work along with their tutor at the end of the 12 months at a dedicated St Mungo’s Mirrorball event.

Eligibility

A panel will review the applications and decide whether any interviews are necessary. The chosen tutor/mentor will be involved in the final decision on the apprentices for their group.

To be eligible to be an apprentice, applicants must be living in Scotland, cannot be involved in any other writing course or receiving any other structured writing support as of September 2025, and should not yet have brought out a full-length poetry collection. Please note that some meetings might be online but in general participants will need to travel to Glasgow or an appropriate central belt location for some meetings and events.

We warmly welcome applications from underrepresented and marginalised groups. We are actively working on widening participation and representation in the Clydebuilt poetry scheme and St Mungo’s Mirrorball now and in future years.

Applying to Clydebuilt 18

If you are interested in applying to be one of the four verse apprentices, please provide the following:

• Full contact details
• A brief biography of your writing career to date – up to 150 words 
  (You may wish to include information about when you started writing, your poetic inspirations, and/or the type of poetry you write; any writing courses / workshops / events you have been involved in; any poems / pamphlets you have published or any writing awards you have received, though please note there is no expectation for applicants to have any work already published.)
• A statement of your short-term and long-term poetry goals – up to 150 words
• An outline of what you hope to achieve from the support over the next 12 months – up to 150 words
• A clear indication of the time commitment you are able to give both in terms of writing and attendance (online or in-person) at the tutorial programme (September 2025 – September 2026)
• 5 poems as typical examples of your work

E-mail your submission in one document (Microsoft Word document preferred) to Pip Osmond-Williams (Edwin Morgan Trust Programme Manager) admin@edwinmorgantrust.com by the closing date of Thursday 26th June 2025 at 5 p.m.

If you have any queries regarding eligibility or the application process please do not hesitate to contact Pip.