The Raising Voices Fellowship
What is the Raising Voices Fellowship?
The Raising Voices Fellowship aims to develop and support aspiring artists who make work for children and young adults and whose voices have been underrepresented in literature. The Raising Voices Fellowship (Programme) is supported by The Arts Council, The Ireland Funds, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council.
Our aims are:
- to break down barriers to publication, progression and inclusion
- to increase diversity and representation in the Irish literature sector
After the success of our Raising Voices pilot in 2022, we ran the programme in 2025 and are delighted to announce the return of The Raising Voices Fellowship programme for 2026. A number of Fellows will be selected to this programme which will run from February 2026 until November 2026. Learn all about the application process in our FAQ section below.
Supports provided
The Raising Voices Fellowship will commence in January 2025 and run until November 2025. At least four writers and/or illustrators (Fellows) will be selected for a programme of creative and practical supports. This will include:
- Mentorship with an experienced writer or illustrator
- A detailed critique from an editor/art director suited to the Fellow’s practice
- A week-long residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig
- A showcase event as part of Dublin Book Festival to mark the end point of the project.
- Access to a bespoke speaker series, bursary information clinic with the Arts Council, and various events and courses
- Professional photography providing Fellows with head shots for publicity purposes as they continue their publishing journeys
- Opportunities to connect and network with the community at Children’s Books Ireland’s artist coffee mornings and other social events
- Ongoing connections with the partner organisations
- Tools, information and guidance needed to finalise a manuscript or dummy, prepare work for submission, research the market, and apply for bursaries
The programme is designed to give Fellows a robust understanding of key stakeholders in the sector as well as connecting them to a welcoming community of writers, illustrators, publishers and booksellers. It will give Fellows all the tools, support and information they need to help them finalise a manuscript or dummy, prepare work for submission to publishers and agents, research the market, make professional connections, apply for bursaries etc.
We are conscious that Fellows may face financial barriers. The Fellowships are fully funded and include a stipend for the residential week to cover childcare/travel/loss of income as well as costs for meeting, travel and accommodation expenses where needed.
The Fellowships are run by a group of literature organisations including Children’s Books Ireland, Illustrators Ireland, Publishing Ireland, the Dublin Book Festival, West Cork Literary Festival and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig. Children’s Books Ireland is the lead organisation and will be the main point of contact.
The Raising Voices Fellowship is for writers and illustrators who:
- make work for children and young people including fiction, non-fiction (including creative non-fiction) and poetry, in English or Irish
- have a complete manuscript or picturebook/illustrated book outline.
- come from backgrounds or communities that are marginalised and/or underrepresented in children’s and young adult literature
- have not yet been published or secured a contract with a publisher or agent
- live permanently in Ireland or Northern Ireland
We are happy to answer questions in relation to eligibility. The Fellowships are designed to be as inclusive as possible, so rather than list strict and exhaustive criteria, we are asking writers and illustrators who apply to self-identify as ‘underrepresented’. We are aware that the Equal Status Acts give legal protection against discrimination on various grounds, including race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, religion, age, disability and membership of the Traveller Community. We also welcome applications from people who are underrepresented due to ethnicity, socio-economic background, neurodiversity and other grounds.
If you are not from an underrepresented or marginalised background, you are not eligible for Raising Voices. You may find our Artists Support section of our website (available here) helpful for information about getting published; or subscribe to our newsletter via our website.
The aim of the Raising Voices fellowship is ultimately to encourage diversity in the literature sector and to ensure that authors and illustrators from a variety of backgrounds get the support they need to get published. Our hope is that audiences will get to read excellent books written from a broad variety of perspectives. Recent Words Ireland research showed that there are various barriers that stand in the way of getting published which are particularly felt by artists from certain backgrounds or experiencing certain disadvantages. The Equal Status Acts were our starting point; we want no artist to be excluded on account of race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, religion, age, disability or membership of the Traveller Community. We also welcome applications from people who are underrepresented due to ethnicity, socio-economic background, neurodiversity and other grounds.
No, the Fellowships are fully funded. All mentoring and other support received will be free of charge to fellows. A stipend for the residential week will also be provided.
Unfortunately not; we can only accept applications from artists working in English and as Gaeilge.
Applications for the Raising Voices Fellowship 2026 are now open.
The application deadline is Thursday 19th February 2026 at 3pm.
Submit your application via the relevant links below:
If you have any additional questions please email Aoife Murray, Programme & Events Manager at Children's Books Ireland.
