Deborah-Rogers-Foundation-INVERTED

The Deborah Rogers Foundation announces a new £10,000 Bursary

DOWNLOAD THE FILE: DRF Bursary Press Release October 2016 (PDF)

The inaugural Deborah Rogers Writers Award, the winner of which was announced earlier this year, has already identified three exceptional new writers and, hot on the heels of that success, the Deborah Rogers Foundation is delighted to announce a second award.

The Deborah Rogers Foundation (DRF) Bursary of £10,000 will be awarded to a publishing professional who has been working in either a Literary Agency or the Rights Department of a publishing house in the UK for two to six years. Its aim is to give a talented candidate the opportunity and financial platform with which to spend approximately eight weeks with publishing companies and agencies in a number of countries, thereby broadening their contacts and experience at a formative stage in their career.

So far, the following international publishers and agencies have confirmed their willingness to work together with the DRF in sponsoring the new Bursary Award winner:
Editorial Anagrama (Spain), Christian Bourgois Editeur (France) Brombergs Bokförlag (Sweden), Cappelen Damm AS (Norway), Companhia das Letras (Brazil), De Bezige Bij (Netherlands), Guilio Einaudi editore (Italy), Faber & Faber (UK), Farrar Straus and Giroux (USA), S. Fischer Verlag GmbH (Germany), Grove Atlantic, Inc (USA), Gyldendal (Denmark), HarperCollins Inc (USA), Profile Books (UK), Penguin Random House(UK), Text Publishing (Australia) with The Agency (London), The Fritz Agency (Switzerland), Rogers Coleridge & White (UK) and Inkwell Management (USA) also offering placements.

The successful applicant will have identified specific areas of the publishing industry that they wish to focus on and will be able to articulate how the Bursary will help develop their career. The judges of this first Bursary Award will be Michael Bhaskar, William Fiennes, Anne Louise Fisher and Hannah Westland – all of whom knew Deborah well.

Applications for the Bursary will open on 15 October 2016 and close on 15 December 2016 and can be made via the website: www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/Bursary

The name of the 2017 Bursary Award winner will be announced at the London Book Fair in March.

Gill Coleridge, Chair of Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd. and Director of the Deborah Rogers Foundation, comments:

‘One of Deborah’s defining qualities was her total commitment to supporting and nurturing those with talent, whether a new author or someone within the agent and publishing community.

‘Selling and managing rights is at the heart of our business so we have set up this Bursary to help exceptional young professionals who are already working in this field develop their contacts and understanding of international publishing at a crucial point in their careers.’

Notes to editors:The DRF Bursary is the second initiative of the Deborah Rogers Foundation, set up in 2015 in memory of the much loved and respected literary agent, Deborah Rogers. The submission dates for next DRF Writers Award will be announced in spring 2017. It is intended to run the two awards biennually, in alternate years.

The winner of the inaugural Deborah Rogers Writers Award 2016 was Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo for Ponti, a work of fiction. This was announced in May by Shena Mackay (Chair of the Judges) who introduced the shortlisted authors after which Ian McEwan announced the winner and presented her with the prize of £10,000. Ponti will be submitted to publishers this month.

The two runners-up were Imogen Hermes Gowar (The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, a historical novel since sold to Harvill Secker) and Guy Stagg (The Crossway, a work of non-fiction since sold to Picador).

Deborah Rogers Foundation

The Foundation has charitable status and is supported entirely by voluntary donations. See website for further details of funding and donors: www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/funding

The Board and Members of the Foundation, chaired by Lord Berkeley of Knighton, Deborah’s widower, comprises people who knew and loved Deborah, including RCW colleagues Gill Coleridge, Peter Straus and David Miller (secretary). These are:

Chair:
Lord Berkeley of Knighton CBE


Directors:
Gill Coleridge (Chair, Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd)
Tamsin Eastwood (Stone King LLP)
Andrew Franklin (Profile Books)
Dotti Irving (Four Colman Getty)
Mark LeFanu OBE
Peter Straus (Managing Director, Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd)

Company Secretary:
David Miller, RCW (Director, Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd)


Members:
Richard Cable
Liz Calder
Carmen Callil
William Fiennes
Peter Florence MBE
Ian McEwan CBE
Stephen Page
Baroness Rebuck of Bloomsbury DBE


For media information, please contact:

Gill Coleridge
Rogers Coleridge & White Ltd
+44 207 221 3717
Mobile 07889 991509
gill@rcwlitagency.com

David Miller
Rogers Coleridge & White Ltd
+44 207 221 3717
Mobile 07545 250611
DavidMiller@rcwlitagency.com

Dotti Irving,
Four Colman Getty
+44 (0) 20 3697 4240
Dotti.Irving@fourcolmangetty.com

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