It can be difficult for writers, before they become established, to write while simultaneously earning a living. To help meet this need the MMF awards annually a small number of Morland Writing Scholarships, with the aim being to allow each Scholar the time to produce the first draft of a completed book. The Scholarships are open to anyone writing in the English language who was born in Africa or both of whose parents were born in Africa.
Grant: Scholars writing fiction will receive a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over the course of twelve months. At the discretion of the Foundation, Scholars writing non-fiction may receive a grant of up to £27,000, paid over a period of up to eighteen months.
Applications will be accepted between 30th June and 31st October 2016. We will acknowledge receipt but, unless we have a query, you won't hear from us again unless you reach the shortlist. The awards will be announced in early December.
Scholarship Requirement: The only condition imposed on the Scholars during the year of their Scholarship is that they must write. They will be asked to submit by e-mail at least 10,000 new words every month until they have finished their book or their Scholarship term has ended. If the first draft of the book is completed before the year is up, payments will continue while the Scholar edits and refines their work.
Proposed Work: The candidates should submit a description of between 400 - 1,000 words of the work they intend to write. The proposal must be for a full length book of no fewer than 80,000 words. The MMF does not accept proposals for collaborative writing or short story collections. The proposal should be for a completely new work, not a work in progress, and must be in English.
