The Bessie Head Heritage Trust comes to life

We became a legal Trust this past June 2007. Our duly recognised mandate is to promote Bessie's writings, assist Head scholars and scholarship, protect and preserve the Head house, and keep alive Bessie's heritage as a radical thinker. Details of our organisation will appear here soon. The photo shows Bessie's house as it is today.

Bessie Head Literature Awards
Together with sponsor Pentagon Publishers of Gaborone, the Trust offers an annual national writing competition, with substantial prizes being offered for best novel, short story, and poetry. In 2007 we undertook the work of organising the first annual competition and judging the entries even before becoming a Trust:

2007 Call for submissions and entry rules
Winners of the first (2007) Literature Awards (PDF)
Current (2008) Call for submissions and entry rules

Please note that this year's prizes are P2500, P1500, and P1000 for novel, story, and poetry, respectively; that anyone can enter; that entries are due by 1st May 2008; and that that four printed copies of each manuscript must be submitted together. There are other important rules; please read them!

Making donations to the Trust – Important!
Donations are the lifeblood of the new Bessie Head Heritage Trust, allowing it to carry out its ambitious mandate. To learn how you can easily make a donation, please read this page.

Heritage Site application made
	The Bessie Head Heritage Organising Committee has filed an application to Botswana's Department of Culture, asking that Bessie Head's house in Serowe be proclaimed a National Heritage Site. Interested persons may find the application documents here.