Last week, we revealed the winners of our 2025 MIRROR Mentorship project, which you can read more about on our website dedicated to the fostering of bilingual children’s literature: MIRROR.
Trade publication, Books+Publishing has picked up this story here.
Leila Frijat, Lia “Lima” Maula (also shortlisted in 2022), and Huaning Wu are the fantastic illustrators taking part in this unique program.
Frijat, Maula and Wu will receive a year-long mentorship—with author-illustrators Freda Chiu, Sher Rill Ng, and Zeno Sworder respectively—as well as a $4000 stipend, alongside publishing masterclasses and networking opportunities.
Established in 2022, the mentorship program is designed to connect industry professionals with emerging writers, illustrators and literary translators who come from historically marginalised communities and who are developing literary work for children and young people for publication in English and in languages other than English (bilingual works). The inaugural recipients were Afsaneh Khoramshahi, Audrey Villafaña and You Mu Amy Ge.
Think+DO Tank Foundation said of these inaugural recipients’ progress during the mentorship year: ‘These extraordinary young women produced singular leporellos and went on to secure agent representation as well as publishing opportunities.”