I won the Goethe Zentrum Kooperationspartner (GZK) Small Project Grant whose deadline was March 2022. Whoop whoop!!! And today, I spill all the tea. Are you ready?
`If you have been an ardent reader of my Taking Stock Series at the end of each month then you’re familiar with this line, `Marvelling at how much hard work goes into honing one’s craft.’
Listen, no one will put in the hard work for you when it comes to achieving your goals and dreams. Absolutely no one!! You have to wake up every day and consistently put in 10,20,30,40 minutes daily towards your goals.
Last year in August, I started hosting the Meet Your Author Series (MYAS), an online series spotlighting and celebrating African authors on the continent through collaborative discussions and author interviews.
I ran two episodes on Instagram live (IG live). In episode one, Motswana writer Botho Lejowa was hosted. She talked about the writing process behind her second book, Meetings with Death which was published in 2020. And she also talked about winning the AWT 2020 Seed Fund under the African Writers Trust Publishing Fellowship.
In episode two, Racheal A.Z Mutabingwa was hosted and she discussed mental health, motherhood and self-publishing in Uganda. She is a self-published author of two books, Adavera (2018) and Kunda (2019).
However, after those two episodes, I shelved the idea until I came across the Goethe Small Grant application. Before the year had ended, I had put the MYAS idea on paper fully articulating it. I knew I would get back to it in the New Year.
This year in January, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw on the Goethe Zentrum page that their small grant project was open for application sometime in January and sent in my application in February. I decided to apply for two reasons-
(1).because that win would help me cover some project costs
(2). Why not? I honestly gave it a try as a challenge.
I was pushing my boundaries. I tweaked the already existing idea and shared it with a friend to review and later my boss. They both gave feedback which I applied to my application and emailed to Anni, the cultural coordinator at Goethe as per the instructions in the call for application.
I put the P in proud that day. Haha! I was proud to have applied for something. A few months down the road, I got an email congratulating me on the win. My baby, my passion project, has won!! I was and still, I`m elated. This was/is a validation. My dreams are valid.
So I got planning and I am proud to announce that Season 2 of the Meet Your Author Series is officially on. In episode 1, I will be hosting poet and singer Ama Asantewa Diaka from Ghana. We will be talking about her newest poetry collection, Woman, Eat Me Whole; getting published and her performance poetry. Ama is a great performance poet and she will be reading some poems from her collection.
Make a date with us on Sunday 15th May 2022 at 3 pm EAT on twitter spaces
I am excited to be hosting African writers from across Africa throughout season 2 with support from Goethe Zentrum Kooperationspartner.
Feel free to recommend a writer that you think everyone needs to know about from your country or any African country.
Thank you, Atim.