BULAWAYO writer Bryony Rheam has been selected as one of the five new Morland Writing Scholars for 2017, after her application made it into the top five from a record 550 submissions.
BY SHARON SIBINDI
The submissions were shortlisted down to 21 before the final five were chosen on the basis of a book proposal and a sample of their writing.
amaBooks Publishers director Brian Jones told NewsDay that the scholarships were awarded every year to a small number of Africa’s writers to enable them to work on a particular piece of writing.
“Rheam is to write a historical crime fiction featuring a psychiatric hospital in Bulawayo, in which she will explore the treatment of those suffering mental health problems and the complex dynamics of power, colonial society and migration,” Jones said.
Rheam said she was excited by the selection, which she described as “a great honour”.
“I am incredibly happy to receive this news. To be picked from around 550 applicants is a great honour,” she said.
The Miles Morland Foundation’s main aim is to support entities in Africa and help Africans to get their voices heard.
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“Each successful scholar is committed to submitting 10 000 words each month throughout their scholarship period. Among the previous writers selected for the Morland Scholarships is Zimbabwean writer Percy Zvomuya for his planned biography of Robert Mugabe,” Jones said.
Rheam’s debut novel This September Sun, published by amaBooks, won Best First Book at the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Awards and was chosen as a set text for “A” Level Literature in English for Zimbabwean schools.
The novel was subsequently published in Kenya and in the United Kingdom, where it topped the Amazon United Kingdom sales charts as an e-book.
Rheam is also a winner of the international Write Your Own Christie writing competition and her second novel, All Come to Dust, a murder mystery set in Bulawayo, is to be published in 2018 by amaBooks.
