Guest Writer’s Grant at the Nordic Africa Institute

The Grant programme has just been through some successful years with its fifth and sixth guest writers: Brian James from Sierra Leone in 2010 and Christopher Mlalazi in 2011. However, for logistical and financial reasons, there will not be a call for applications for 2013.  

The Nordic Africa Institute has previously hosted the following four guest writers, Ama Ata Aidoo from Ghana, Gabeba Baderoon from South Africa, Tolu Ogunlesi from Nigeria and Shailja Patel from Kenya. The guest writers have added in a very positive way both to the dialogue and interchange at the institute itself, and have given a new dimension to its interface with various groups and audiences in the Nordic countries. 

The first host for the Guest Writer’s Grant has been the "Cultural Images in and of Africa" programme, with Mai Palmberg as co-ordinator. After Mai Palmberg’s retirement in January 2010, Stefan Helgesson, a literary scholar with postcolonial fiction as his specialty, became the co-ordinator of the Guest Writer’s Grant.