WRITING BEYOND THE FRINGE DEADLINE EXTENDED

Entries for National Arts Festival writing project extended to October 10.

Due to numerous requests, the National Arts Festival has extended the date for entries into the Writing Beyond the Fringe Project to October 10. A partnership between the deBuren Literary Project and Passa Porta Festival in Belgium and the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, this project seeks to acknowledge new South African writers who have previously had work presented at the National Arts Festival.

Writers will be required to write a new story that reflects on the theme, Remapping the World. The focal point of the story should be a character whose life has been remapped by either local or global changes of the last decades. Four entries will be selected and the writers will be invited to read the stories in front of an audience at the 2009 National Arts Festival. In addition, the Brussels-based deBuren Project will pay the four writers three thousand Euros each. The works will also be translated into French, Spanish and Dutch.

The four stories will be broadcast by Radio Netherlands Worldwide on Radio Books, a series of recorded stories specially written to be listened to and not to appear in print. The stories, which should last between 20 - 30 minutes (approximately 5,000 words), are read aloud by the authors in front of an audience once only. After the reading, they are broadcast on the radio and distributed via the Internet, where they can be listened to or downloaded free of charge.

One of the four writers will also be considered for an invitation to participate in a fully sponsored one-month writer’s residency at the Passa Porta Writer's Festival that will take place in Brussels during 2009.

This opportunity is available to South African citizens or those with permanent residency in South Africa. It is confined to new writers who have had a maximum of one publication in book form, or whose work has not previously been published in book form, although it may have appeared in magazines, journals, or newspapers.

Application forms and more information on how to participate in the "Writing Beyond the Fringe" programme can be downloaded from the National Arts Festival web-site at www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

More information from the Fringe Festival Manager, Kate Axe Davies, on 046 603 1163 or the Festival Director, Ismail Mahomed, on 046 603 1149. Closing date for submission of application forms is now October 10, 2008, and the deadline for receipt of the completed work will be November 24, 2008.

The 35th National Arts Festival runs from July 2 to 11, 2009, and is sponsored by The Eastern Cape Government, Standard Bank, The National Arts Council and The Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund.