The Africa Institute Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship 2026 for creative writers (50,000 AED grant & funded Residency in Sharjah, UAE)

Application Deadline: March 1, 2026.

Applications at the moment are open for the 2026 Africa Institute Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship. The Africa Institute, Global Studies University invites purposes for the Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship, a distinguished program that celebrates and helps literary voices engaged in the creative expression of Africa and its diaspora in all types and genres.

Established in honor of the late Nigerian scholar Tejumola Olaniyan, a famend literary critic whose work profoundly formed African and African diaspora research, this fellowship displays his legacy of mental rigor, creativity, and dedication to fostering new narratives. It aligns with The Africa Institute’s mission as a globally oriented middle devoted to analysis, postgraduate research, and important discourse on Africa and its worldwide connections.

Since its inception in Fall 2022, the fellowship has welcomed esteemed writers, fostering creative alternate and scholarship in Sharjah, UAE, an important nexus of African-Arab cultural interplay. Through this residency, The Africa Institute continues to advance its dedication to shaping new paradigms in African and African diaspora research whereas offering a dynamic area for mental and creative exploration.

Eligibility Criteria

• The fellowship is open to each rising and established creative writers
• Applicants have to be actively engaged on a significant literary mission (novel, memoir, essays, poetry, movie script, or full-length play)
• Applicants will need to have no less than one printed work (guide, journal, or vital on-line platform)

Preferred Requirements

• Strong document of creative literary excellence (awards, fellowships, recognition)
• Substantial creative portfolio
• Work associated to Africa and the African diaspora
• Innovative approaches to storytelling, type, or language
• Work that contributes to vital literary tradition, scholarship, or public discourse

Requirements

• The residency program welcomes purposes from creative writers, together with novelists, quick story writers, playwrights, poets, and scriptwriters whose work pertains to Africa and the African diaspora for a grant of fifty,000 AED in whole for the length of the fellowship, which is inclusive of lodging, a return airfare ticket, visa and the month-to-month stipend of 10,000 AED per thirty days per fellow.

Application Requirements

• The proposed mission could also be in Arabic or English, although different languages may even be thought-about. To full their work, recipients shall be invited to Sharjah, UAE, for a three-month residency. Typically, the cohort begins in the autumn of every yr.
• Recipients can have the chance to publish their texts by The Africa Institute’s publications program. Projects regarding theatre and movie scripts can be printed as texts or obtain help in facilitating productions. The mission may very well be new or a work-in-progress and ought to be possible for completion throughout the timeframe of the residency.

1. CV/résumé of the applicant
2. A one-page cowl letter explaining motivation for making use of to this residency (single-space, font 12)
3. A two-page mission assertion (single-space, font 12) which can embody:
   • Project description
   • Significance of the mission
   • Proposed timeline for finishing the mission
   • Introduction of the writing pattern (or pattern creative work) and its relation to the proposed mission
4. One printed writing pattern or a pattern of creative work

Selection Criteria

• All purposes shall be reviewed by The Africa Institute by a committee of school and fellows.
• Three recipients shall be chosen based mostly on the standard of their proposal and the demonstrated feasibility of completion throughout the timeframe of the residency.

How to Apply

• Applications for our applications will now be submitted by an internet application platform. Please don’t ship purposes through e mail.
• Kindly word that every attachment shouldn’t exceed 3 MB.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Africa Institute Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship