Call for writers to apply for grant

THE Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa (Anfasa) is currently accepting grant applications for its next round of the Anfasa Grant Scheme for Authors (Agsa).

Writers who are currently working on real-life texts are encouraged to submit grant applications before the deadline on September 30.

The 2017 recipients include Bongani Ndodana-Breen, for his work Mzansi’s Other Voices, which provides a historical survey of the pre-1994 era in South African art music.

It begins by addressing examples of Afrikaner nationalism that manifested in music from the 1950s through 1980s, and scholar and political analyst Raymond Suttner’s Memoirs, about his life in Johannesburg.

The grants are intended to provide a sum of about R25 000, to be used for an author to “buy time” – to take leave and devote herself or himself to writing, or to travel to conduct research.

The grants support research and writing, and are not intended to cover the cost of publishing the manuscript, although a grant could also be used to cover some editing costs, for instance, if properly motivated.

Anyone who is currently working on a scholarly or a general, non-fiction work, is eligible to apply. However, if selected, only Anfasa members may actually receive an award.

A general non-fiction work could be a biography or an autobiography; a history of a town, region or religion; a book about music or sport or theatre; a political or social analysis; an account of everyday life in a township; or a book about nursing, cooking, fashion, traditional medicines or cars – these are just a few of the many topics that have been supported by the Anfasa grant scheme in the past.

An independent committee will assess the applications and select the most deserving. The selection committee aims to offer awards to a wide-ranging group of authors and subjects, and the selection process aims to respect the need to treat new and experienced authors equally – bearing in mind authors writing in rural as well as urban locations – and to consider writers at all levels of education, from the untutored to the degreed.

The Anfasa grant scheme especially encourages writing by new authors.

Applications for books written in all of the official languages will be equally considered.

For enquiries, log on to www.anfasa.org.za. The successful applications will be announced in December.