Writivism announces residency for African writers at Stellenbosch

The Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) has upped the stakes in its annual Writivism programme by announcing a Writivism Residency for emerging African writers at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. The residency is a collaboration between the centre, Stellenbosch University’s English Department and the Miles Morland Foundation, who will provide the financial backing for the […]

The Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) has upped the stakes in its annual Writivism programme by announcing a Writivism Residency for emerging African writers at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. The residency is a collaboration between the centre, Stellenbosch University’s English Department and the Miles Morland Foundation, who will provide the financial backing for the programme.
The programme will kick off with the 2015 Writivism prize winner, Nigeria’s Pemi Aguda, who will be in residence at the university throughout the month of September to work on her fiction manuscript as well as participate in public lectures, readings and presentations.
Other past and future winners of the Writivism Short Story Prize will also benefit from the opportunity. Cofounder of CACE and its Partnerships Director, Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, said, “This residency is important because to make a writing career work, one needs the space, time, and a community supportive of their endeavours. In a way, just winning $400 prize money in Kampala wasn’t enough foundation for an emerging writer to build a career.
This residency will be a game-changer.” On his part, Prof Sally-Ann Murray, the Chair of the English Department at Stellenbosch, who also happens to be a novelist said, “Colleagues in the English Department at Stellenbosch University are excited to inaugurate their partnership with the Writivism project in 2016.
The month-long writer’s residency is a great opportunity for us to host emergent African and Caribbean literary talents, and to give our existing pan African academic networks a vital creative energy. And who knows, perhaps this small beginning can lead to further collaborations – participation in workshops, festivals, seminars.”
The announcement has been greeted with euphoria among the African writing community with famous writer EC Osondu, who is also a member of the Writivism Board of Trustees saying that, “This is a wonderful gift of ‘a room of one’s own’ and time; A gift that every writer needs, even more so the emerging African writer. Thank you Writivism, thank you Stellenbosch for making this happen.”