The Miles Morland Foundation (MMF), a foundation that supports entities in Africa to get their voices heard, with particular interest in supporting African writing and literature, is now accepting entries for its annual Morland Writing Scholarships. The scholarships are aimed at giving scholars time to produce the first draft of a completed book without worrying about earning a living while writing.
They are open to anyone writing in English who was born in Africa or whose parents were born in Africa.
During the scholarship, successful applicants will receive a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over 12 months. At the Foundation’s discretion, scholars writing non-fiction who require additional research time could receive an additional grant, paid over a period of up to eighteen months. According to MMF, the only condition imposed on the scholars during their scholarship is that they must write. At the end of each month, scholars must send the Foundation 10,000 new words written over the course of the month via email until they have finished their book or their scholarship term has ended. If the first draft of the book is completed before the year is up, payments will continue while the scholar edits and refines their work.
Also, scholars are asked to donate 20% of whatever they subsequently receive from the book they write during their scholarship period to the MMF. This includes revenues from film rights, serialisations, or other ancillary revenues arising from the book written during the scholarship period. These funds will be used to support other promising writers. The 20% return obligation should be considered a debt of honour rather than a legally binding obligation.
To qualify for the scholarship, a candidate must submit an excerpt from a piece of work between 2,000 and 5,000 words, written in English, that has been published and offered for sale. Applicants must send clear evidence that the piece uploaded as part of their application has been both published and offered for sale. Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of readers and judges set up by the MMF. The work submitted will be judged purely on literary merit. Note that the scholarships will not support academic or scientific research, or works of special interest such as religious or political writings as submissions or proposals of this nature do not qualify.
Meanwhile, the Foundation has noticed that several of the early submissions for this year’s scholarships have relied on artificial intelligence, adding that use of artificial intelligence in composing the submission or book proposal will result in the entry being dropped from consideration. However, people whom MMF considers to have used AI will not be informed of the Foundation’s decision, nor will the information be made public.
To apply, the candidates should submit a description of between 400 and 1,000 words of the work they intend to write. The proposal must be for a full-length work of adult fiction or non-fiction of no fewer than 80,000 words. The MMF does not accept proposals for poetry, plays, film scripts, children’s books, collaborative writing, or short story collections. The proposal should be for a new work, not a work in progress, and must be in English.
Applicants should please note that if they are shortlisted for a Morland Writing Scholarship, they will be asked to send a 3,000 to 4,000 word “chapter” of the book they are proposing to write during the scholarship year to help the judges assess their ability. Writers will be notified that they are on the shortlist at the end of October. Shortlisters will then have 15 days to return the sample “chapter”.
The Foundation also requires applicants to talk about themselves and their background in 200-300 words. People who reach the shortlist will be asked for further information about themselves and how they propose to write their book.
The Foundation welcomes fiction and non-fiction proposals. Acknowledging that non-fiction scholars may need extra time for research, the Foundation may exercise its discretion to offer non-fiction writers a longer scholarship period of up to 18 months. Successful scholars may elect to start at any time between January and June in the year following the Scholarship Award. Their payments and the 10,000-word monthly submission requirement will start at the same time.
Note that the Foundation will not review or comment on the monthly submissions as they come in. However, each Scholar will be offered the opportunity to be mentored by an established author or publisher. In most cases, the mentorship will begin after the book has been finished and the Scholarship period has ended. At the discretion of the Foundation, the cost of the mentorship will be borne by the MMF. It is not the intention of the MMF to act as editor or a publisher; therefore, scholars will need to find their own agents and publishers, although the MMF is happy to offer advice. Please note that this is not a residential Scholarship. It is up to the scholars to determine their living arrangements during the scholarship year.
Applications will be received between July 1, 2026, and September 22, 2026. Applications submitted outside that period will be discarded.
For more information, please visit https://milesmorlandfoundation.com/entry-requirements/.
