THE FELICITY BRYAN PUBLISHING MENTORSHIP SCHEME

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN FROM FRIDAY 5TH JUNE 2026 TO MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY 3RD JULY 2026

THE FELICITY BRYAN PUBLISHING MENTORSHIP SCHEME

SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2026

The Felicity Bryan Publishing Mentorship Scheme was created in honour of the pre-eminent literary agent Felicity Bryan, who died in June 2020.

The scheme is aimed at anyone from an underrepresented background who is interested in pursuing a career in the publishing industry. It is designed to be accessible to anyone, no matter their circumstances, and to give a stimulating and varied introduction to the many aspects of publishing. The mentee will be paid the Oxford Living Wage for the duration of the mentorship and there will be an additional stipend available to cover the cost of accommodation. The scheme is generously supported by Felicity’s family, and reflects her own energetic nurturing of talent and potential in young people starting out in their careers.

The three-month mentorship will be based primarily at the Felicity Bryan Associates offices in Oxford. It will also include a range of industry placements at our partner organisations, including:

  • Little, Brown Book Group
  • Profile Books
  • Andrew Nurnberg Associates
  • Sylvie Zannier Literary Scouting
  • Forage Literary
  • Daunts Books Summertown

You can find out more about our inaugural mentee, Niktaa’s, experience HERE. After her mentorship with FBA, Niktaa secured an internship with Profile Books. She is now an associate agent at RCW Literary Agency.

You can find out more about our 2022 mentee, Alice’s, experience HERE. After her mentorship, Alice joined House of Books and Friends, a new independent bookshop in Manchester, as a bookseller.

You can find out more about our 2023 mentee, Hannah’s, experience HERE. After her mentorship, Hannah interned with Profile Books and is now a Digital Sales Executive at Bookouture.

About Felicity Bryan: Felicity was unequivocally one of the most successful and esteemed literary agents of the last few decades. She established her own literary agency in Oxford in 1988, after a career as a journalist and then as a director at Curtis Brown in London. Her clients at that time included Mary Berry and Rosamunde Pilcher, and her burgeoning commercial and critical success gave her the basis to take on new agents and staff. By the time of her death from stomach cancer in summer 2020, her agency was the largest outside London. She was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list for her services to publishing.

ELIGIBILITY

Applications for the Felicity Bryan Mentorship Scheme are open to anyone over 18, based in the UK or Ireland, who considers themselves under-represented in the publishing industry on the grounds of ethnicity, disability, sexuality, gender, class or any other circumstances.

Please note: We are unable to consider applicants on student visas or those with restricted working hours.

APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply, please send the below to Ria Chatrath at ria@felicitybryan.com:

  • Your most up-to-date CV
  • A covering letter (all in one word document or PDF)

 

As part of your covering letter, please tell us about a recently published book you’ve read (published within the last two years) and why it stood out to you. Please also tell us why you feel you are from a background underrepresented in publishing.

Longlisted candidates will be invited for a virtual interview.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an in-person interview.