Call for Applications ~ African Writers Residency

Deadline: September 7, 2019

The African Writers Development Trust, in partnership with the Writers Guild Kenya, is calling for writers of African descent living in Africa, to apply for the African Writers Residency to hold in November 2019, as part of the PenPen Africa Project. The PenPen Africa project is funded by Culture at Work Africa and co-funded by the European Union.

According to Anthony Onugba, the Executive Director of the African Writers Development Trust, applicants from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Congo DR, and Nigeria, are invited to apply and are required to submit a nonfiction story of not more than 1500 words on the theme, The African Identity. The fully-funded residency programme will take place in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2019 for 21 days.

Mr Onugba explained that the objectives of the African writers residency programme is to expose African writers to new cultures and encourages local content in African literature, provide transnational exposure and acclaim for writers of African descent, connect writers of varied backgrounds so as to improve social cohesion between the writing communities of Africa, among others.

During the residency programme, workshops and several immersion activities into the local culture will be held. The writers will write two short stories which will have a cultural undertone. A total of 24 short stories from the writers will be compiled in a book and disseminated in hardback and eBook formats. The residency programme will hold in Nigeria in November, 2019 and in Kenya in February 2020. Intending participants are to visit AWDT site for more information.