ANFASA, the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa, announces the next round of the grant scheme to benefit authors of academic and general non-fiction works.
What is a “general non-fiction work”? Just as an example, it could be a biography or an autobiography; a history of a town or a region or a religion; a book about music or sport or theatre; a political or social analysis; an account of everyday life in a township; a book about nursing, or cooking, or fashion, or fishes, or traditional medicines, or cars – those are just a few of the many topics supported by the ANFASA grant scheme in the past.
If you are currently working on a scholarly or a general non-fiction work and are a member of ANFASA, you are eligible to apply. If you are not yet a member of ANFASA you can join at the same time as you submit your application.
The grants are intended to provide a sum of around R20 000 to R25 000 to be used for an author to “buy time” – to take leave, for instance, and devote herself or himself to writing; or to travel in order to conduct research. The grants are for research and writing and do not cover the cost of publishing the manuscript. 2016 marks the tenth year of the grant scheme and to celebrate ANFASA will be awarding a further R 20 000 to a deserving manuscript towards production costs.
An independent committee will assess the applications and select the most deserving. There are only two criteria for eligibility: membership of ANFASA and the desire to complete the writing of a general non-fiction or academic work for publication in book form.
The selection committee aims to offer awards to a wide-ranging group of authors and subjects, and the selection process will respect the need to treat new and experienced authors equally; to bear in mind authors writing in rural as well as urban locations; and to consider authors at all levels of education from the untutored to the degreed.
The ANFASA grant scheme especially encourages writing by new authors. Applications in all the official languages will be equally considered.
Go to www.anfasa.org.za to download an application form or send an e-mail to info@anfasa.org.za. The closing date for applications is 30 September, and the successful applications will be announced in November.
The post Press release: Call for ANFASA Grant Scheme for Authors 2016 appeared first on LitNet.