Attention UK writers: the local branch of Random Penguin is making a serious effort to diversify its list by reaching out to members of minority communities and offering training.

The project, called WriteNow, will be running one-day courses in London, Bristol and Newcastle in September, and 10 lucky writers from those will go on to be put on a year-long mentoring program.

Now of course the chances of your being selected may not be good if you say you want to write science fiction or fantasy, though you might get away with it if you said it was YA. Then again, you might have a really good pitch. You will also need to have something in the works that you can show them. For details of how to apply (and you need to get in by July 16th) see here.