NAC to launch award in memory of local writer |12 August 2006

The literary award, named in memory of the late popular Seychellois novelist, poet and children’s writer, Sonia Grandcourt, is one of several awards given by the Nac at the annual Arts Awards of Seychelles ceremony to various artistes who have scored a success in one of the artistic disciplines in Seychelles or internationally.

The award is divided into four different categories or literature genre, namely, poetry, short stories, the novel and drama, and is open to all Seychellois aged 18 years and above and who are currently living in Seychelles.

Participants can submit manuscripts in one category only.
“The Nac is making a special effort to encourage Seychellois writers to compete for this prestigious award which offers a prize of SR5,000 as well as publication of their work, among other benefits,” says the Nac managing director, Emmanuel d’Offay.

“We are therefore asking all the well known, as well as new writers, poets, and playwrights in Seychelles to participate and contribute to the development of Seychellois literature, not only in Kreol, but also in English and French,” he adds.

The Rules and Regulations for the Sonia Grandcourt Award for Literature as well as the entry forms can be obtained from the Nac offices at the Stadium car park.
The closing date for the competition is Friday December 29, 2006.

The Nac has already initiated two projects to assist Seychellois writers in developing literature in Seychelles.

The first is a poetry writing workshop launched in April last year and which is still being conducted on a regular fortnightly basis. 12 poets are attending the workshop.

The head of the Literature Unit and Theatre at the Nac, Jany De Letourdie, says, “The workshop participants have made a lot of progress over the last year and I am sure that they will all be able to easily compete for the Sonia Grandcourt Award as they’re all producing a lot of poems in the workshop.

“We discuss and critique each other’s work and that offers a lot of encouragement as well as stimulation to all the poets, in order for them to achieve professional publication level.”

At the end of the workshops in December 2006, the Nac will compile an anthology of poems by all participants in the workshop for publication.