Laetitia Keok is a writer and editor from Singapore.
The Voice of Your Clarity
A MENTORSHIP FOR EMERGING POETS IN SINGAPORE
What drives your work? What are your obsessions and central preoccupations? What is the kind of poet you want to be in our grieving world? And what are our responsibilities as writers?
MENTORSHIP OVERVIEW
Over the course of one year, I will mentor two emerging poets. Through a personalised curriculum, we will read a diverse range of contemporary poets and poems deeply, and consider how their engagement with craft might enrich your own. We will revise rigorously, and think deeply about what it means to sustain your poetic practice.
Mentees will build towards a final project, which could be a packet of poems, a portfolio, a chapbook, an MFA application, etc. You can come with a project in mind or we can conceive of one together. This mentorship is not designed for any project that exceeds chapbook-length (15-25 pages).
MENTORSHIP STRUCTURE
The mentorship is free and the current cycle will run from July 2026 to June 2027; each mentee will meet with me monthly, one-on-one on a video call. The first half of the mentorship will be modeled after traditional craft classes and workshops. The latter half of the mentorship will focus on the mentorship project.
We will use the first meeting to discuss goals, after which, a mentorship timeline, syllabus, and agenda for each meeting will be tailored to the mentee.
ELIGIBILITY
Mentees must not have published or be under contract for a full- or chapbook-length poetry collection, and must not hold an advanced degree in creative writing or be enrolled in any degree-granting creative writing programs (MA/MFA) at the time of application.
Writers working in-between genres with hybrid projects are welcome, but this mentorship is not for a short story/novel/memoir project.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please email a statement of interest (including your artistic goals and what you would like to get out of the mentorship), and a sampling of 3-5 poems to laetitia.mentorship@gmail.com with the subject line: “Poetry Mentorship — [Your Name]”.
Applications will be received via email and anonymised (by someone else) before I read your application materials; please do not include your name or any identifying information in your statement or your sample. Writers from historically underrepresented and marginalised groups in Singapore are encouraged to apply.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 JUNE 2026
*with gratitude to Sunhouse Literary's Summer Mentorship Program, and to Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, whose mentorship programme, As Clean As A Bone, provided the inspiration and blueprint for this initiative.