Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant
The Han Nefkens Foundation, in collaboration with the IDEC Universitat Pompeu Fabra Master in Creative Writing and Editorial Alfabia is pleased to announce the first Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant, aimed at Spanish-language authors born after 1 September 1978. The winner of the grant will study the UPF Masters program in Barcelona and write a novel or a book of short stories, which will be published and distributed by Ediciones Alfabia.
The members of the jury responsible for choosing the winner in June – so as to allow the recipient of the grant to begin the Masters course in September – are the writers Juan Villoro, Lourdes Iglesias and Ignacio Vidal Folch. The jury will take into account the curriculum vitae of the candidates as well as the scope and quality of his or her project and its publishing feasibility.
The 1300 euros monthly salary over a one-year period, together with the tuition fees and the subsequent publishing of the book, are a significant incentive in these times of financial crisis. This grant expands the scope of the Han Nefkens Foundation – which has so far supported the visual arts from its Barcelona headquarters – into the sphere of literary creation, in the belief that it is one of the forms of expression of contemporary arts. Joining the first biannual Han Nefkens Foundation MACBA Award, which was announced in 2011 and includes a 50,000 euro grant for the production of a new work, the annual Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant consists of a cash prize of 15,600 euros, the tuition fees for the Masters program and a contribution to the publishing costs in the form of the purchase of 500 copies. Both of these awards are rooted in the conviction that Barcelona is a world capital of visual and literary arts, and that this needs to be promoted particularly in the current economic climate.
The Masters in Creative Writing at the IDEC institute of continuing education, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, founded and directed by the poet and translator José María Micó, has been training writers from Spain, Europe and Latin America for the past four years. Its teaching staff includes the writers Eloy Fernández Porta, Juan Villoro and Jorge Carrión.
Barcelona-based publishers Ediciones Alfabia, directed by Diana Zaforteza, has published books by young authors such as Daniel Gascón as well as classic authors such as Juan Marsé and Saul Bellow.