Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Do you want to learn from an experienced mentor—or give back to the writing community by mentoring an emerging writer? Drawing on personal experience with writing mentorship programs and community organizations, our panelists will address what curious writers should know about becoming either a mentor or mentee.
Author mentorships can take many shapes: formal or informal, free or paid, craft-focused or career-oriented. We’ll discuss:
• How to select the right mentorship program for you
• What makes a great author mentor
• How writer mentees can best benefit from the experience
• Engaging in a writing community for ongoing support
Special thanks to the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Blue Stoop, and Las Musas for collaborating on this event.
Presenters
Crystal Hana Kim is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The Stone Home (2024), a finalist for the Maya Angelou Book Prize and current longlist for the Joyce Carol Oates Award, and If You Leave Me (2018), which was named a best book of 2018 by over a dozen publications. Kim is the recipient of the 2022 National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award and the winner of a 2017 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
M. García Peña / Mia García (she/her) was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She got her MFA at The New School and is the author of Even If the Sky Falls, The Resolutions, a contributor in the YA monster anthology Our Shadows Have Claws, and the picture book When We Find Her forthcoming from Viking Books for Young Readers. She is a founding member of the artist collective Las Musas Books and splits her time between Puerto Rico and New York.
Moderator: Julian Shendelman is a writer, editor, and organizer based in the greater Philadelphia area. When he’s not co-directing the literary arts organization Blue Stoop, he’s working on a novel about haunted houses, capitalism, and queer community. Learn more at www.shendelman.com.
Special Thanks to Our Supporters and Partner Organizations
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts and our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is pleased to offer this program free to the public.
Do you want to learn from an experienced mentor—or give back to the writing community by mentoring an emerging writer? Drawing on personal experience with writing mentorship programs and community organizations, our panelists will address what curious writers should know about becoming either a mentor or mentee.
Author mentorships can take many shapes: formal or informal, free or paid, craft-focused or career-oriented. We’ll discuss:
• How to select the right mentorship program for you
• What makes a great author mentor
• How writer mentees can best benefit from the experience
• Engaging in a writing community for ongoing support
Special thanks to the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Blue Stoop, and Las Musas for collaborating on this event.
Presenters
Crystal Hana Kim is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The Stone Home (2024), a finalist for the Maya Angelou Book Prize and current longlist for the Joyce Carol Oates Award, and If You Leave Me (2018), which was named a best book of 2018 by over a dozen publications. Kim is the recipient of the 2022 National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award and the winner of a 2017 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
M. García Peña / Mia García (she/her) was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She got her MFA at The New School and is the author of Even If the Sky Falls, The Resolutions, a contributor in the YA monster anthology Our Shadows Have Claws, and the picture book When We Find Her forthcoming from Viking Books for Young Readers. She is a founding member of the artist collective Las Musas Books and splits her time between Puerto Rico and New York.
Moderator: Julian Shendelman is a writer, editor, and organizer based in the greater Philadelphia area. When he’s not co-directing the literary arts organization Blue Stoop, he’s working on a novel about haunted houses, capitalism, and queer community. Learn more at www.shendelman.com.
Special Thanks to Our Supporters and Partner Organizations
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts and our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is pleased to offer this program free to the public.
