Graduate Publication Membership Program

MSA is pleased to announce the launch of its Graduate Publication Mentorship Program for 2026. This initiative has been developed in collaboration with four leading journals in modernist studies, each of whom will sponsor one of four available mentorship placements:

  • Modernism/modernity, editors Anjali Nerlekar and Faye Hammill
  • Feminist Modernist Studies, editor Jean Mills
  • The Space Between: Literature and Culture 1914-1945, editors Sarah Cornish and Melissa Dinsman
  • Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, editors Matt Levay and Elizabeth Sheehan

The program is designed to support MSA’s graduate student members in developing a draft article to submission standard through structured engagement with an experienced academic mentor. Participants will benefit from one-on-one meetings with their assigned mentor, a simulated blind peer review process conducted in partnership with one of the sponsoring journals, and an invitation to a panel-style Zoom event at which journal editors and colleagues will discuss the experience of receiving and responding to reader reports.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

  • Be graduate students at the time of applying;
  • Be current MSA members; and
  • Have a draft piece of work or dissertation chapter they would like to workshop into an article

The last qualifier means you will have a piece of draft work ready to be reviewed by your mentor at the beginning of the program, even if that draft work is currently intended for your dissertation.

Program Structure

There are four mentorship places available, each sponsored by one of the journals listed above. Grad students will work with their assigned mentor and the journal editors to workshop an article towards publication. Grads must be willing, to the best of their ability and circumstances, to meet with their mentor; workshop and revise their article in accordance with the schedule agreed upon by them and their mentor; and be involved in a revision session with journal editors and other mentors.

A schedule outline will be sent to each mentor/graduate pair, who will agree to and fill in their specific dates for each stage of the program, which will run from the beginning of May to the end of September, 2026.

How to Apply

Please compile and send the following in one document via email to msagraduatementorship@gmail.com by April 5, 2026.

  • Name:
  • University:
  • Year of study:
  • At what stage is your draft piece of work? (e.g., still a dissertation chapter, in a draft for an article):

Please attach:

  • Description of your article-length project you intend to workshop (approx. 250-300 words)
  • Writing sample from this project (max. 1000 words)
  • Brief statement of publication and mentorship goals (e.g., why do you want to be involved?)

All final decisions about graduate, mentor, and journal assignments will be made by the MSA program committee.

Questions

Send any questions to msagraduatementorship@gmail.com