We at Mawazo are excited to be launching our second online novel-writing workshop, having just finished the first one. It has been an invigorating four months as our six budding writers engaged with Jennifer Makumbi, who brought such vibrancy to each session; it did not feel like they were tens of thousands of miles away from each other but rather, were in one cosy room, working together on their novels.
We were impressed by the variety of themes, plots, writing styles, and genres the writers had, and it confirmed for us the vast diversity and depth of African story-telling that is still largely untapped. We are re-committed to our mission to help get these stories out.
Having gained a solid craft foundation and a better perspective on their draft novels, the six writers are now busy revising them on their own for a couple of months. Once the first full drafts are ready, we will match them with editors/mentors to work with them to polish the drafts to a shiny final draft ready for submission to agents and/or publishers. Our goal is completed, published books at the end of the whole project.
The second workshop will provide the same opportunity to six other African writers based on the continent. One of our aims is to refine the whole process based on what we have learnt from the first workshop so as to better serve our writers’ needs. We are extremely pleased to have Yewande Omotoso as the facilitator of the second novel-writing workshop. Our conversations with her on her approach to teaching creative writing make us certain that her workshop is going to be as useful and stimulating as the first one. So polish up your manuscripts, writers, and don’t miss this free opportunity!
Find the Call for Submissions here.
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