2026 Jacob e Dulce Mentorship
A Joao Roque Literary Journal and author Suneeta Peres da Costa Partnership
Aim
To encourage and assist emerging Goa-based authors of Goan descent or Goa-based writers writing about Goa-related issues to develop their first book-length work of fiction or non-fiction.
How to Enter
JRLJ invites emerging writers of fiction and non-fiction committed to completing a book-length manuscript to submit a sample of the first 1000 words of your work plus a brief 250-word synopsis and 250-word bio. The deadline for this first phase is 1 June, 2026.
Please send your submission as a single Word file (12 point font, 1.5 spacing and page numbered) to joaoroqueliteraryjournal@yahoo.com titled “Mentorship submission” in the subject line.
JRLJ will read your sample and, if shortlisted, invite you to send the first 10,000 words of your manuscript. The winning entrant will be notified by the end of June, 2026.
The period of mentorship will be from 1 July to 30 September, 2026. During this time, Suneeta Peres da Costa will work with you to develop your work’s vision and storytelling craft of the first 20,000 words of your manuscript—making suggestions for structural edits, narrative and character development and setting deadlines for revision.
If completed by 2026, you will be invited to send your manuscript to Selma Carvalho, who will assess whether it is ready for publication, assist with putting together a submission package and facilitate an introduction to a literary agent. If, however, it is not ready, we would encourage you to continue with your work-in-progress.
Eligibility
We invite Goa-based writers of Goan descent and writers based in Goa writing about Goa-related issues in English or English translation. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate other languages.
If your work has been or is already under consideration with literary agents and/or publishers, this programme is not for you. Only un-agented writers who have not previously published a book nor submitted their potential novel to publishers need apply. Do check with us if uncertain.
Please note, there are no fees involved at any stage of the mentoring programme. JRLJ does not solicit fees from writers or artists.
The partnership
Suneeta Peres da Costa was born in Sydney, Australia – on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, and is of Goan origin. She writes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. Her most recent book is a debut poetry collection, The Prodigal (Giramondo, 2024). Her novella, Saudade (Giramondo, 2018; Transit Books USA & Canada, 2019; China Workers Publishing House, 2024), concerning the legacies of Portuguese colonialism and the Goan diaspora in pre-Independence Angola, was shortlisted for the 2019 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the 2020 Adelaide Festival of Literature Awards, and was a finalist in the 2020 Tournament of Books (USA). Her previous novel was the internationally-published Homework (Bloomsbury, 1999; Rowohlt, 2000). She has received awards, fellowships and residencies from, among others, Creative Australia, Create NSW, Asialink Arts, The Copyright Agency, The Bundanon Trust, Varuna – The Writers’ House, The Corporation of Yaddo and MacDowell and the Fulbright Program. Over the years, she has worked with many Australian and international organisations. Her work has appeared in the Joao Roque Literary Journal and she has attended the Goa Arts and Literature Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Communication from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Selma Carvalho brings twenty years of writing experience to the mentorship. She is the author of three non-fiction books documenting the Goan presence in colonial East Africa, the novel Sisterhood of Swans, shortlisted for the Women Writers prize, India, and among Asian Review of Books’ six noteworthy fiction books of 2021, and the novella Notes on a Marriage, both published by Speaking Tiger. She has had twenty-two short stories published in various anthologies, including by Kingston University Press and Aleph India, and is the editor of The Naked Liberal: Writings of George Menezes, and three volumes of The Brave New World of Goan Writing & Art published by Cinnamon Teal. She has run the JRLJ since 2017, publishing and platforming countless writers. Between 2011-2014, she directed the HLF grant-funded “Oral Histories of British-Goans Project” now archived at the British Library and curated the first-ever East African Goan exhibition “Past Lives” at the Nehru Centre, London. For many years she was a columnist with Oheraldo Goa and The Goan, and her words have found place in the Deccan Herald, The Hindustan, Readers Digest and Times of India among others. She is the winner of the Leicester Writes Short Story Contest and has been short or longlisted is 40 odd contests including major UK contests such as London Short Story, SI Leeds, Bath, Fish and Mslexia.
Launch of Brave New World of Goan Writing and Art 2025 published by Cinnamon Teal, at Dogears Books and then at Museum of Goa.
In 2021 JRLJ collaborated with the Asia Pacific Writers & Translators to publish an online vol. of short stories, essays and poems. You can access them by searching for APWT on this journal.
Brave New World of Goan Writing 2020 (supported by Fundacao Oriente, Goa) released. The Covid Years so no launches only readings via video.
Some of our JRLJ contest prize winners for short stories or essays, Jessica Faleiro-2017, Malavika Neurekar-2018, Savia Viegas -2019 (donated prize money to JRLJ) and Kavita Peter Kandathil-2021.
JRLJ sponsored Writing Workshop with Jessica Faleiro and Rochelle Silva 2019
Launch of The Brave New World of Goan Writing 2018 published by Bombaykala, India.
