Application Deadline: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Applications are now open for the 2025 Africa Institute Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship. The Africa Institute, Global Studies University invites applications for the Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship, a distinguished program that celebrates and supports literary voices engaged in the creative expression of Africa and its diaspora in all forms and genres.
Established in honor of the late Nigerian scholar Tejumola Olaniyan, a renowned literary critic whose work profoundly shaped African and African diaspora studies, this fellowship reflects his legacy of intellectual rigor, creativity, and commitment to fostering new narratives. It aligns with The Africa Institute’s mission as a globally oriented center dedicated to research, postgraduate studies, and critical discourse on Africa and its worldwide connections.
Since its inception in Fall 2022, the fellowship has welcomed esteemed writers, fostering creative exchange and scholarship in Sharjah, UAE, an essential nexus of African-Arab cultural interaction. Through this residency, The Africa Institute continues to advance its commitment to shaping new paradigms in African and African diaspora studies while providing a dynamic space for intellectual and artistic exploration.
Tejumola Olaniyan was a Nigerian academic, the Louise Durham Mead Professor of English and African Cultural Studies, and the Wole Soyinka Professor of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin. Olaniyan earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Ife in Nigeria and completed a second master’s degree as well as a Ph.D. at Cornell University.
Requirements
The residency program welcomes applications from creative writers, including novelists, short story writers, playwrights, poets, and scriptwriters whose work relates to Africa and the African diaspora for a grant of 50,000 AED in total for the duration of the fellowship, which is inclusive of accommodation, a return airfare ticket, visa and the monthly stipend of 10,000 AED per month per fellow.
- The proposed project may be in Arabic or English, though other languages will also be considered. To complete their work, recipients will be invited to Sharjah, UAE, for a three-month residency. Typically, the cohort begins in the fall of each year.
Recipients will have the opportunity to publish their texts through The Africa Institute’s publications program. Projects relating to theatre and film scripts can also be published as texts or receive support in facilitating productions. The project could be new or a work-in-progress and should be feasible for completion within the timeframe of the residency
For More Information:
