Penguin Random House UK's video: Meet writer Benjamin G Wilson a WriteNow mentee

Benjamin is an LGBTQ writer and performer, currently finishing a degree in Creative Writing at Falmouth. He has previously worked as an air steward, knitting teacher and nature ranger. His book Dispatch from the City of Orgies is a literary novel, combining fact and fiction. The book weaves together a number of narrative strands including the formation, maintenance and dissolution of a polyamorous relationship between addicts, the reality of sexual violence for many queer men in London including details of ‘Grindr killer’ Stephen Port murders. Benjamin is currently one of twelve writers taking part in a year-long editorial mentorship programme with Penguin Random House, after applying to our WriteNow programme in 2016. WriteNow aims to find, mentor and publish new writers from communities under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves. This includes writers from BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) or LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) communities, writers who have a disability, or come from a socio-economically marginalised background. Before being invited to the mentorship programme, Benjamin was one of 150 who attended a WriteNow Insight Day, where writers are given a crash course in navigating the publishing industry and are given direct one-to-one feedback from a Penguin Random House editor. Applications for 2017's programme have now closed, but you can find more information and future updates about the programme at http://www.write-now.live, and resources for new authors at http://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/authors.