Poda-Poda Stories Fellowship

Meet Our Fellows

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.

About the Fellowship

The Poda-Poda Stories Fellowship is 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 their 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. 

The goal of the fellowship is to inspire and train the next generation of young writers in Sierra Leone. Through access to resources, coaching, training, and support for their independent projects, we hope that fellows will enhance their creative skills, while gaining exposure to the literary world of publishing, writing and editing. The fellows will also have the opportunity to shadow and provide support to the editors, gaining first-hand experience in running a literary platform. 

The fellowship consists of three components:

Learning:

  • Through direct mentorship with editors, personalized assignments, and the capacity to collaborate on new initiatives of their choosing, fellows will gain unique insight into the editing process and help construct the projects that Poda-Poda Stories  is crafting for the future.

  •  Fellows will learn to evaluate submissions, discuss with editors, and work directly in carefully choosing stories for publication.

  • Fellows will contribute at least one blog article per month to Poda-Poda Stories, and assist with maintaining our  brand on our social media. 

Independent Capstone Project:

  • The fellows will have the opportunity to work on an independent project, which will be the capstone of the fellowship. 

  • The fellows will work with the editors to craft what the project will look like and form a sustainability model.

Program Support:

  •  The fellows will support the editors with administrative duties, including taking notes during partner meetings and organizing the google drive.

  • The fellows will support the team with social media management, including maintaining all social media pages, liaising with media partners and supporting content management.

  • The fellows will help organize events, including writing workshops, and virtual meetings. 

  • Fellows will represent the organization at events, media appearances and conferences.

  • The fellows will also help with research, writing and fact-checking for Poda-Poda Stories literary projects.

Submissions for our 2023/2024 fellowship are now closed.