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Distance Learning MA in Creative Writing: International Scholarship Students

In 2009, Lancaster University expanded its highly successful Distance Learning MA in Creative Writing and introduced two International Scholarships (worth £8,000 over two years) to be awarded to applicants who need assistance in financing their studies and who are resident outside the EU.  The recipients of these awards in the current academic year are Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva (Uganda) and Bode Asiyanbi (Nigeria).  We are hoping to be able to offer further scholarships in future years. You can read profiles of our 2009 and 2010 winners below.

Our 2010 Winners

Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva is a Ugandan female who has a passion for poetry. Two years ago, she began an annual poetry award for Ugandan women, to promote poetry in Uganda, where it is not highly appreciated. Beverley published her first poetry collection, entitled Unjumping, with erbacce-press in Liverpool in July 2010 after emerging amongst the top three in their international poetry competition. She lives in Kampala with her husband and daughter. Her other interests are travelling and dancing. Read Beverley's article "Uganda Ignites in Poetry Passion," on her creation of the Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award.

Beverley writes: "As a writer, I want to push boundaries and exceed limitations. I want to learn the true liberty that comes from writing in a sense that my subjects, characters and places that I visit in my words should not be hindered by the current environment, regulations or fear. I want my writing to propel me to break barriers that lie within my conscience. Once my writing elevates me to a newer and fresher platform of experience, then I will feel more justified to call myself a writer; whether a female Ugandan writer or African contemporary writer I am not sure. The labels will not define me as much as the writing will.

"My work on the DLMA, largely poetry, shall further that through the resources I have already been privileged to be a part of. My fascination has already been drawn to a review by Dr. Graham Mort on James Longenbach’s Resistance to Poetry. James Longenbach writes, 'But the marginality of poetry is in many ways the source of its power.' And he further states that poems do not necessarily have to be trusted. Such sentiments lead me to delve further into my own poetry and my reasons for writing poetry, my own understanding and my choice of poetry's themes and subjects. Such information from the course shall enable to answer and delve deeper into my writing and reading as well. The course shall also make me realize the subjectivity of poetry at the same time, the importance of appreciating the greatest and greater poets from all over the world both living and dead. I will use their works and wisdom to learn more and hone my own writing skills."

Bode Asiyanbi

Born in Oshogbo, Western Nigeria, Bode Asiyanbi was educated at Victory Grammar School, Ikeja and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he holds a degree in Microbiology. His interest in writing began at an early age at his father - an English teacher’s - modest library. He has worked with the BBC World Service Trust as a writer on its groundbreaking radio and television drama series Story Story and Wetin Dey. He was the winner of the BBC African Performance playwriting Prize in 2005. He presently works in a leading financial institution in Nigeria. See AfricanWriter.com for "Swansong - Poems by Bode Asiyanbi."

Bode writes: "The DL MA would afford me that which I have never really received; a formal education in creative writing in an intellectually stimulating and challenging academic environment. And this is crucial not just to my development as a writer but also to my lifelong dream of becoming a teacher of creative writing.

"The scholarships will enable me impact on aspiring and budding writers back in my country and beyond as an effective teacher of creative writing and through writing awards I hope to initiate. This scholarship has given me a future to look forward to by shifting my life into the very right gear."

Our 2009 Scholarship Winners

Rosie Thapa

Rosie Thapa is originally from London and Sussex. Apart from some years in the US and UK she has lived in Kathmandu since graduating in 1994. She has been working as a consultant editor and writer for agencies involved in development but is now scaling that back to concentrate on her own writing. She has written newspaper and magazine articles and has begun shaping a novel set in present-day Kathmandu and the city as it was 200 years ago. She speaks Nepali and lives in in downtown Kathmandu with her husband and three children.

Joyce Chigiya

Joyce Chigiya is a teacher at a rural school called Zaka in the Masvingo province of Zimbabwe. Her respect for poetry began when she was at a teachers’ college and studied four South African protest poets for a project. Subsequently she studied for A-Levels in Divinity and English, both of which reawakened her appreciation of poetry. When the University of Zimbabwe opened a degree programme for practising teachers at what is now called the Masvingo State University, Joyce was part of the pioneer intake. She was in the 2004-2005 intake of the Crossing Borders Writing Project (Zimbabwe).  See Issue no. XI of Poetry International Zimbabwe and also "An overview of Post-Independence Zimbabwean Poetry," Poetry International Web, 16 October 2008.