Winners of the 2020 Morland Writing Scholarships Announced
Images credit: James Murua.
Howard Meh – Buh (Cameroon), Kobina Ankomah – Graham (Ghana), Okwiri Oduor (Kenya) and Sarah Uheida (Libya) are the 2020 Morland Writing Scholars.
The Miles Morland Foundation has announced the winners of the 2020 Morland Writing Scholarships.
Recall that in October, we reported that 19 writers made it to the shortlist. Now, 4 writers have emerged victorious and will receive a grant of ₤18,000 each, to allow them to take a year off to write a book.
They are: Howard Meh – Buh Maximus (Cameroon), Kobina Ankomah – Graham (Ghana), Okwiri Oduor (Kenya) and Sarah Uheida (Libya).
“We have four new Scholarship winners for 2020 out of almost a thousand entries. Our judges, Muthoni Garland, the Chair, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, and Chuma Nwokolo are familiar with the current African writing universe but they were as pleased as we to find new names popping up from unexpected places, for some of whom English is not their first or second language…” Miles Morland commented.
“We have our first Libyan and first Cameroonian Scholars. The standard was as high as ever. The judges do not favour one type of writing over another but next year I might give them a nudge to favour entries which show the extraordinary wit and humour that for me characterises culture all over the continent.” He continued.
This year’s edition of the prize received 992 entries, and a shortlist of 19 writers was announced in October.
Here is what the judges think of the four 2020 scholars and their proposed works.
Howard Meh-Buh Maximus (Cameroon)
Howard’s thoughtful writing is replete with memorable and humorous lines. His proposed novel is about a four-singer-acapella choir caught up in the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. Music and politics promise to be an intriguing mix of the soulful and soul-less.
Kobina Ankomah-Graham, Ghana
A memoir shaped around the suicide of a younger brother, explores broken masculinities and repressed mental health issues. It will be an important book on an under-represented field in African literature.
Okwiri Oduor, Kenya
Her carefully chosen symbolism and lyrical details will bring to vivid life her coming-of-age novel about a stolen child, madness and identity. A stretching character driven novel that plays with reader emotions and skirts the borders of the fantastical.
Sarah Uheida, Libya
Her proposed non-linear fictionalised memoir will centre her lived experience as a Muslim child survivor of her country’s disintegration into the Libyan Civil War, and the challenges of living as a refugee in South Africa. This is an ambitious project by a new and powerful voice.
“The proposed works of our four 2020 Morland scholars promise to stimulate our thinking about African histories and herstories of social and political significance – the Arab Spring, masculinities, mental health and the Anglophone crises in Cameroon. And these writers demonstrated they have the literary chops to deliver heavyweight writing that is fluid, beautiful and insightful.” Muthoni Garland, Chair of the judges commented.
Congratulations to all four scholars.
The Morland Writing Scholarships is sponsored by the Miles Morland Foundation. Its aim is to help African writers in publishing their works, for which they offer a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over the course of twelve months.
The 2020 edition opened and closed submissions on 1st July 2020 and 18th September 2020 respectively. 992 submissions were received from 30 different countries. The MMF will announce in the New Year the rules and dates for the 2021 Scholarships.
