Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moreland 2014 Scholarships

hi ikhide
do you have any more insights into this foundatiion? i went on-line, following the link you provided, and found the following, paragraphs coming after the opening to the description of the foundation work which you cite:

Grant

The Scholars will receive a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over the course of one year.

Scholar's Undertaking

In return for this it is expected that the Scholars will pay to the MMF 20% of whatever they subsequently receive from what they write during the year of their Scholarship. These funds will be used to support other promising writers. Last year the obligation to return 20% was a binding condition of accepting the Scholarship. For this year's Scholars, and retro-actively for last year's, the 20% return obligation should be considered a debt of honour rather than a legally binding obligation.

First of all, the notion that 18,000 pounds is supposed to free an author to write for a year is a joke. it isn't worded as though this is a supplement, but rather money that would free up a writer to be able to write for a year. in dollars it is $30,000.

secondly, more importantly, they expect the writer to give 20% of whatever they earn back to the foundation. apparently they shifted this from an obligation to an expectation. it is an outrageous amount, except for a scholar. writers of fiction might make a good deal if they are successful,but most don't. scholars make so small an amount it wouldn't really matter. it doesn't seem right to me to ask so much of writers of fiction.
ken

On 7/3/14 7:55 AM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:

"It can be difficult for writers, before they become established, to write and to earn a living outside writing at the same time. To help fill this need the MMF awarded three Morland Writing Scholarships in November last year. The Scholarships were open to anyone who had been born in Africa or both of whose parents were born in Africa.

We were astonished by the response to the Scholarships. We had been expecting to get a few dozen entries and ended up receiving over 350. In general the standard was high and choosing the Scholars was difficult. After long deliberation the judges awarded the Scholarships to Doreen Baingana, from Uganda, Tony Mochama, from Kenya, and Percy Zvomuya, from Zimbabwe. All three are hard at work on their books.

The Miles Morland Foundation is pleased to offer three new Scholarships this year. The terms will be similar to last year with one or two changes."

- Ikhide

Great funding opportunities for African writers. Please share widely: 

http://t.co/zbh4gB8yWa

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu