Deadline: February 21, 2018
British Council in collaboration with the African Storybook Initiative invites writers and illustrators to participate in a residential workshop for the production of mother-tongue based multilingual storybooks. The workshop is a component of the broader Story Making West Africa project which aims to promote the arts, education and mother-tongue based multilingual education in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Story Making West Africa workshop pilots an initiative to create stories in indigenous languages and is an opportunity for individual West African writers and illustrators to contribute to the production of these storybooks at any African Storybook reading level, in indigenous languages and English.
Workshop Details
The 5-day workshop will bring together participants in Abuja, Nigeria from 12 to 16 March 2018 from Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana and will be facilitated by trainers from the African Storybook initiative. The workshop will be fully funded by the British Council inclusive of travel, accommodation and a small stipend as per diems.
Workshop Output 1: Up to 20 draft story manuscripts with ten manuscripts selected for publishing. Each manuscript will consist of 12-page stories in at least two languages (an indigenous African language and English).
Workshop Output 2: Illustrators draw and colour five sets of illustrations (that is, five story manuscripts).
Eligibility
Story Writers:
- Can write (speak and read) competently in 2 (or more) languages: an indigenous African language and English. Writers of the following languages are strongly encouraged to apply: Pidgin, Ashanti, Twi, Ga, Krio, Mende, Themne, Limba, Pulaar, Wolof, Kanuri, Fulfulde, Ijaw or Igbo; other languages will be considered. A competent writer pays attention to these aspects of written language: style and clarity of expression, vocabulary choices, creative and imaginative language use, grammar, spelling and punctuation.
- Have at least 2 years of experience as a language or literacy educator – e.g. teacher, librarian, lecturer (or other relevant educational work with young children and/or language teaching). It will be an advantage if you have a degree or diploma in one of the following areas: Education, Language / Literature, or Transl
- Have computer literacy skills – are comfortable typing on a keyboard (standard or most accepted orthography of the language) and using Microsoft Word (or other word processing program).
- Have not previously published a storybook for children
- Have an original idea for a story or a character or know a traditional indigenous story.
- Allow your work to be released under a Creative Commons Attributions License which allows your work to be used freely by others.
- Would like to work with other participants to develop, write and translate openly licensed stories.
Storybook Illustrators:
- Preferably have at least 2 years of experience in illustration work, and ideally, experience in illustrating for educational publishing.
- Can read and speak English. Knowledge of Pidgin, Ashanti, Twi, Ga, Krio, Mende, Themne, Limba, Pulaar, Wolof, Kanuri, Fulfulde, Ijaw or Igbo will be desirable.
- Allow your work to be released under a Creative Commons Attributions License which allows your work to be used freely by others.
- Are confident that you can achieve the following within 2- 2 ½ days at the workshop:
- with discussion and support, conceptualise 12 pictures for a 12-page children’s story
- draw rough sketches for 12 pictures
- finalise sketches after feedback and create line drawings
- add colour to line drawings
- finalise 12 colour pictures (as png files)
Application
- For Story Writers: Please complete the online application form with your details and a statement of motivation describing how you meet the criteria above.
- Storybook Illustrators: Please complete the online application form with references and links to your portfolio of work (or 8 to 10 illustrations that you completed in the last 3 years), showing examples of your line and colour work. Also fill in a statement of motivation describing how you meet the criteria above.
Interested writers and illustrators must be a resident of any West Africa country living and working in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal or Sierra Leone; and are required to complete the online application meeting the criteria above using this link https://goo.gl/T8eFfa by midnight 21 February 2018.
For more information, visit British Council.
