The Deborah Rogers Foundation announces the second David Miller Bursary of £10,000 to be awarded in March 2019

The Deborah Rogers Foundation announced that applications are now open for the second David Miller Bursary. Candidates have until 16th December to apply. Applications should be made via the website:

www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/bursary.

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 years or more. 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 overseas and in the UK, thereby broadening their contacts and experience at a formative stage in their career.

The following international publishers and agencies have confirmed that they are willing to offer two-week work placements to the winner of the 2019 DRF David Miller Bursary:

• Editorial Anagrama (Spain)
• Big Apple Agency (China)
• Capitana (Norway)
• De Bezige Bij (Holland)
• Giulio Einaudi Editore (Italy)
• Eric Yang Agency (Korea)
• Faber & Faber (UK)
• Fritz Agency (Switzerland)
• Farrar Straus and Giroux (US)
• Gallimard (France)
• Grove Atlantic (US)
• HarperCollins Inc (US)
• Hayakawa Publishing Corporation (Japan)
• Inkwell Management (US)
• Penguin Random House (UK)
• Profile Books (UK)
• Minumsa Publishing (Korea)
• Rosinante (Denmark)
• The Agency (UK)

All applications will be considered by a Board of Assessors who will select a shortlist of 3 or 4 to pass to the Judges for interview. Candidates will be notified in February if they are on the shortlist, and interviewed soon after. It is intended to make the announcement of the winner on the eve of the 2019 London Book Fair.

The winner of the inaugural DRF David Miller Bursary was Sam Coates, Senior Rights Executive of Vintage Books, PRH. He took up his four selected placements in the summer of 2017 and his report can be read on the website on the news page, www.deborahrogersfoundation.org. In the conclusion of his report Sam writes:

“… the bursary has provided a wealth of experience, knowledge and information which I intend to draw over the coming years … and a unique springboard for the career of a young rights person”
 

2019 Assessors: Laurence Laluyaux, Stephen Edwards, Sam Copeland, all Directors at Rogers Coleridge & White Ltd, together with Sam Edenborough of ILA, and Margaret Halton, of PEW Literary.

2019 Judges: Andrew Franklin (Profile Books), Rebecca Servadio (London Literary Scouting), William Fiennes (author) Hannah Westland (Serpents Tail) and Sam Coates.
                                     
Andrew Franklin, Chair of the Judges, comments:

‘Rights, and perhaps particularly international rights, are an under-celebrated part of the literary world, so the creation of the David Miller Bursary by the Deborah Rogers Foundation was a really welcome move.  We look forward to meeting the new applicants in February 2019.’

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 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.

I was delighted by the response to the inaugural Bursary Award in 2016 and I know David Miller, who helped launch it, would have been too. So, following the huge international response throughout the publishing world to David’s sudden death on 30th December 2016, the Trustees of the DRF decided to attach his name to the Bursary which is now known as the DRF David Miller Bursary.”

Applications for the 2019 Bursary are now open from 1st October 2018 until 16th  December 2018 and can be made via the website: www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/Bursary

The name of the 2019 Bursary Award winner will be announced at the London Book Fair in March.