Becoming A Koestler Mentee Helped Me Become A Published Author
When I was in prison in America, Prisoner’s Abroad entered my short story into the Koestler Awards. Then, back in England, I received a phone call from their office in London congratulating me on winning a Koestler Award. The award did much more than make my day, but I’ll get to that.
I was a stockbroker gone wild in Arizona, arrested by SWAT as part of a series of dawn raids, and sentenced to nine and a half years for money laundering and drug offences. Incarcerated in America, I started Jon’s Jail Journal. In a maximum-security cell I wrote my blog entries at a tiny stool and table bolted to the wall.
I emerged from prison hoping to make a career out of the writing skills I’d developed, but I didn’t have any resources or connections. Then I won that Koestler Award, and things changed overnight. Koestler Arts immediately suggested I apply for their mentoring programme. My Mentor helped to improve my book and showed me how to approach literary agents. Thanks to the mentoring programme, I am now a published author of ten books and a best-seller on Amazon.
Koestler Arts is one of the rare organisations helping ex-prisoners pursue their career ambitions in the arts and to become productive members of society. I deeply appreciate Koestler Arts for helping my career as a writer.
