Botho Lejowa is African Writers Trust Publishing Grant 2020 winner.

Botho Lejowa was announced the winner of the African Writers Trust Publishing Grant 2020 today, May 18, 2020.
The African Writers Trust Publishing Fellowship Programme, targeting 30 candidates across eastern, southern and west Africa, focuses on the professional development of upcoming talent in African publishing. The objective is to facilitate the sharing of skills and collaborative learning between the more experienced publishers and the early career and emerging ones.
In January, the trust called out for the 2020 Fellows who would participate in a week-long Mentoring and Training workshop in Uganda and be eligible for a publishing grant worth €4,200. The winner would use it to produce a model publication that adheres to international publishing standards. The previous winner of the grant was Abdulrahman Ndegwa who went on to produce Kaz Kazi.
On February 26, the shortlist of those who were still in the running for the publishing grant was announced. Today, Botho Lejowa’s winning manuscript project, Meetings with Death has been revealed as the winner. The manuscript explores the themes of spirituality, magic, taboo, rituals, and supernatural entities; cleverly woven into a modern fantasy that’s set in both the streets of our everyday lives and the realms of ancestral beings.
Speaking on the announcement, African Writers Trust director, Goretti Kyomuhendo said: “We are excited to be working with Botho Lejowa, a fresh, dynamic and highly-promising voice from Botswana with a broad range of talents suitable for this award. With few fantasy writers on the continent, this is a novel with the potential of galvanising more writers to follow in the fantasy genre and create a whole new audience of readers.”
Botho Lejowa’s response was, “I literally don’t know what to say! 😭😭😭😭😭😭 So grateful. 💜💜”