The Miles Morland Foundation has announced that the 2019 Morland Writing Scholarships for African writers will open for entries on Sunday 30th June. The deadline for submissions is Monday 30th September.
For all information on how to apply, please see the page marked ‘Entry Requirements and FAQs’ on our website (www.milesmorlandfoundation.com ).
Previous winners of the MMF Scholarships are: Tony Mochama, Doreen Baingana, and Percy Zvomuya in 2013; Yewande Omotoso, Simone Hayson, Ndinda Kioko, and Ahmed Khalifa in 2014; Fatin Abbas, Bolaji Ofin, and Akwaeke Emezi in 2015; Abdul Adan, Lidudumalingani, Ayesha Haruna Attah, and Nneoma Ike-Njoku in 2016; Bryony Rheam, Elnathan John, Alemseged Tesfai, Eloghosa Osunde, and F.T. Kola, in 2017; and Edwige Dro, Kola Tubosun, Sibabalwe Masinyana, and Siphiwe Ndlovu in 2018.
The quality of writing we receive remains impressively high and we are delighted to see the number of submissions rise each year. With over 550 applications last year, we hope to have even more this year. We’re looking forward to discovering our new winners in November.
We would be grateful if you would help us by passing this information on to anyone you think might be interested, as well as announcing the opening dates on Facebook and Twitter using the link below. Thank you.
For more information, check: Morland Writing Scholarships 2019 – The Miles Morland Foundation
Meanwhile, the Miles Morland Foundation is pleased to announce our Judges’ Panel for 2019. According to ‘Brittle Paper’, this year we have two new faces on the panel of three. It was time to refresh the panel but our decision was made easier by the Caine Prize nicking Ellah Allfrey and Femi Terry. We felt that having them judging both Caine and us would be too incestuous. If nicking your judges is the sincerest form of flattery, thank you, Caine.
Ellah and Femi have been on the panel since we started the Scholarships six years ago. We are much in their debt. Ellah has been an outstanding and deeply knowledgeable chair and Femi, while championing people he felt strongly about, has always been open to other views.
Our new panel is:
Muthoni Garland (Chair)
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf
Otosirieze Obi-Young
Muthoni has been on the panel for four years. She, a writer herself and a short-lister for the Caine Prize, is the den mother of Kenyan literature and a founder of Storymoja, the Nairobi writers’ collective. She will make a brilliant Chair.
Bibi is co-founder of Cassava Republic Press, a leader of the new wave of African publishing houses. She is a Yale World Fellow, a Desmond Tutu Fellow, and an acute judge of African writing.
Otosirieze Obi-Young is Deputy Editor of the brilliant Brittle Paper, one of Africa’s most on the ball and talked-about literary publications. He is a discerning judge of cutting edge writing. At 25 he has become one of the grand old men of Nigerian literature.
We think this is a terrific judging panel and, no, we didn’t choose them just because their names are impossible to spell.
