Sierra Leone’s Poda Poda Stories Fellows announced

Sierra Leone’s Poda Poda Stories Fellows announced

Josephine Kamara and Sulaiman Munda Bonnie were introduced as the new Poda Poda Stories Fellows on Monday, September 25, 2023.

Poda-Poda Stories is a Sierra Leonean literary platform that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and literary criticism by emerging and established Sierra Leonean writers. Founded in 2020 by Sierra Leonean writer and journalist Ngozi Cole, the platform amplifies and promotes Sierra Leonean literature.

One of the platform’s programs is the Poda-Poda Stories Fellowship, a year-long program that is designed to support young Sierra Leonean writers to grow in the literary industry and manage an independent creative project. The paid fellowship functions within the three pillars of learning, support, and implementation where the fellow would learn the basics of editing and publishing while honing their writing skills via workshops. Fellows will gain hands-on experience with the administrative support of the Poda-Poda Stories staff in addition to assistance with social media content creation. The fellows will also develop and implement a capstone project using a medium of their choice. It is supported by The Commonwealth Foundation and the Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice.

The first fellows introduced are;

Sulaiman Munda Bonnie

Sulaiman Munda Bonnie holds a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Sierra Leone and is also a current law candidate there. He has won three writing awards including the African Union’s Youth Essay Contest in 2022. Sulaiman teaches English at Naiahcom High School in Freetown and is president of the Poetry Reading Club at Fourah Bay College. One of Sulaiman’s favourite quotes is from Jane Austen: “When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” He writes poetry and short stories.

Josephine Kamara

Josephine Kamara is a girls’ rights advocate with 10+ years of experience. She is a Senior Advocacy Manager at Purposeful, Sierra Leone where she has previously contributed articles, blogs, and essays on education, rape culture, and investment in girls. Josephine is a YALI and Mandela Washington Fellow and was recognised by Together for Girls in 2015 as one of 16 global heroes fighting to end violence against girls. She studies Power, Participation and Social Change at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) – University of Sussex. She wishes to write and publish a memoir.

Comments

One response to “Sierra Leone’s Poda Poda Stories Fellows announced”

  1. Ruth A. aka Grace Favor avatar

    Thanks so much for the great recognition of the effort made by Josephine and Suleiman. Congrats for the job well done!

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