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Milford Bursaries:
Funded places for SF Writers of Colour in September 2024

Thank you to all 2024 applicants. If you were not successful in 2024 you are very welcome to apply in November/December for 2025. We will have a shorter than usual application window (just one month).\

You can download the application form now.

• All applicants must be Milford qualified, i.e. must have sold at least one short story to a recognised SF market.
• Applicants can be from anywhere in the world as long as they write in English in the science fiction/fantasy genre in it's widest sense. There must be some element of speculative fiction in the work.
• The bursary covers the cost of a week-long residential place at the Milford September event, bed, breakfast and evening meal, but it does not cover travel, additional food/drinks or other expenses.

Our bursary writer for 2024 was Naomi Eselojor from Nigeria. NAOMI ESELOJOR is a speculative fiction writer from Nigeria. She is the winner of the 2023 Utopian award for short fiction and the 2024 winner of the Wilson Okereke’s prize for short stories. Her works are in and forthcoming at African Ghost stories anthology by Flame Tree Press, 2022 Best of Utopian Science Fiction Anthology by Android press, Omenana Magazine, Lolwe, Hexagon Magazine, Improbable press, Dark Matter Magazine and elsewhere. Her works have been nominated for the Pushcart prize, Ako Caine prize and the Utopian awards. Naomi lives in Lagos, and attended the Milford Writer’s Workshop in 2024.

Unfortunately, we only had one bursary writer in 2024 due to our second selected writer having to cancel at the last minute.

"Just do it. Stop hemming and hawing, stop chewing your lip/pen/fingers and apply. If you’re Milford qualified (which means you’ve sold at least one speculative short story or novel), then book your place. If you’re Milford qualified and a writer of colour, apply for the bursary. Do it, do it, do it. It’s a fairly easy process and you have no reason not to. It’s so worth it." - Ramya Jegatheesan

"Sept 2019 I attended the Milford Conference for science fiction writers. It was a real eye-opener and pushed me to explore exciting ways of approaching my speculative fiction. I credit a big part of this short-listing to those 5 intense but exhilarating days. Thank you Milford, and to the African Speculative Fiction Society for nominating 'Shelter' for the 2022 NOMMO Awards." - Mbozi T Haimbe

Our Bursary Writers 2017 to present day

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Bursary Report 2024 by Naomi Eselojor

I had just finished an exam at my university and was on my way home when my phone buzzed. I checked and it was a notification from Jacey. The subject of the email read: ‘Milford Acceptance’. Tears filled my eyes, but I had to suppress them and head for the bus stop. It was until I was safe in my room, that I let the emotions pour out. I had applied for the Milford Science Fiction Writers Conference the year before and was rejected. As much as I desired this acceptance, I was alright with not getting in. I had gotten dozens of rejections in my life, and as a result my heart had hardened. One more was not going to shake me.

I remember Jacey asking me to ‘accept my acceptance’ within a week. Of course, I didn’t wait a whole week before saying yes. I had the idea that if I stalled, the email would disappear, or I would wake up from what could be a dream. As soon as I said yes, the preparations began. Juggling school with my visa application was nerve-wracking—trying to decide when to place my biometrics appointment date so it wouldn’t clash with a test or an examination. I’d already lost the opportunity to go to Glasgow for Worldcon because of my final exams and I wasn’t going to miss this one. As God would have it, everything worked out in good time, and exactly one month to my flight, I signed out from the University of Lagos.

After dinner, we proceeded to the lounge where we had wine, made jokes, and shared bookmarks and books. We were supposed to do an arm-wrestling contest but apparently, no one wanted to wrestle Jim. I watched the writers as they drank and laughed, and thought to myself, ‘I would miss this.’ I would miss the enthusiasm in their voices, the passion in their words. I would miss the stories they told and the fire in their eyes. Once, after a long thought, I realised that we were all just a bunch of nerds who had found community. And I will cherish that nerd community for as long as I live.

Charlotte, Georgina and Dolly, 2021

ABOUT THE BURSARY
Due to the generosity of the committee of the 2012 and 2018 Eastercons, Dr Anthony Francis, supportive writer donors, and a bequest from the late Terie Garrison, Milford SF Writers' Conference is offering a bursary for one or two self-identifying science fiction/fantasy writers of colour (BAME) to attend the September Milford SF Writers' critique week in the UK. The location is Gladstone's Library, Hawarden, North Wales (on the English/Welsh border near to Chester).Self-identifying BAME writers from all over the world (far and near) are invited to apply as long as they write in English and are 'Milford qualified' (i.e at least one SF story sale). See the quotes from our previous bursary recipients.Each bursary will cover the cost of the conference fee and accommodation (bed, breakfast and evening meal) Lunches can be purchased from the cafe. The bursary value is £750. The bursary does not cover the cost of transport to or from the conference from either inside or outside the UK. Should a successful applicant be unable to take up the offer of a bursary, there is no cash value, and no guarantee that we will be able to offer a bursary in a future year. Thank you to all previous applicants. If you have applied unsuccessfully in the past, you are welcome to apply again. In the meantime if you have any questions, please contact the Milford secretary. Our bursary scheme is intended to be an encouragement and not a quota. We have a limited number of bursaries available, however we operate an equal opportunities policy so all SF/F writers who are 'Milford qualified' (i.e. have made at least one story sale) are welcome to apply for the full-price Milford SF Writers' Conference places, subject to availability.If you are interested in helping to fund our bursary programnme for future years, please contact the secretary: jacey@jaceybedford.co.uk.

Our Milford anthology, Eclectic Dreams, launched at Eastercon in 2023, is to raise funds to continue the bursary into 2025 and beyond. We still have a few copies left.
Buy it here.

The Milford SF conference has given me the spur I needed to try and finish a draft of the novel-in-progress which I took to the conference. This is still my biggest and most important goal of 2023. On top of that, I feel like I’ve made some amazing new friends and acquaintances. Writers of color, if you get the opportunity to attend Milford with a bursary, I’d encourage you to seize it. As for myself, one of these years, I fully intend to return! - Akotowaa Ofori 2023

Getting into Milford was a dream. I still can’t fit my excitement into words. I remember applying after I found out Suyi Davies had attended in the past. I initially didn’t think I could get in, but seeing another Nigerian on that blog post was the push I needed. Okay, rounding it up, to everyone who wants to experience the beauty, warmth, friendship, and wealth of knowledge that Milford offers, take out your phone, or laptop, or scroll, whatever works for you, and pen down that application. Believe me, it’ll be infinitely worth it. Milford wasn’t just a place or a gathering. It was a feeling. I want to exist in that feeling forever. - Somto Ihezue, 2022

I was momentarily thrilled when I was offered a place - and then I started worrying all over again. Would I fit in? Would the other writers be nice? Was my writing speculative enough?  Was I good enough?!

But my enjoyment of the week was in direct proportion to how much I’d worried. Milford regular and Most Egregious Token Male (official committee title) offered me a ride to the conference. Everyone I met there was wonderfully nice, ridiculously interesting and genuinely a pleasure to drink copious amounts of alcohol and shoot the shit with. The other writers were knowledgeable, their feedback given with much thought and care and there was a sense of egalitarian community and mutual helping out. I think the committee members, especially Liz and Jacey, purposefully and intentionally work towards a welcoming, open atmosphere and it really pays off. By the end of the week, you couldn’t tell who were the regulars and who were Milford first-timers. - Ramya Jegatheesan - 2022

"Then I met everyone who’d arrived for the conference, and my nerves dissipated at their warm welcome. Lovely food, great company, and it was on to the first round of critiquing on Sunday afternoon. I will say the experience is intense but entirely worth it. Critiquing the work of other writers, and having my own work critiqued by writers working within the genre has been so beneficial for developing my writing and identifying my blind-spots." - Mbozi Haimbe - 2019

"I hope it has been abundantly clear that I personally found the experience not only highly enjoyable, but also utterly valuable when it came to going forward with the work in progress I took along. I had some exceptional encouragement and every one of the crits I got back will aid me greatly in some way with the next stage. When you have folk like that urging you along, you know you’re going to be just fine. Better than fine." - Russell Smith - 2019

“Milford is everything you want in a residential workshop. Great food, breathtaking views, super respectful crits. What’s even better is getting to attend this without paying a kobo for registration or residency. Teatimes where there’s actually tea and food? Sociable evenings with lots of drinks and chocolate? Visits to a little town in North Wales that could be navigated end-to-end in under 3 hours? Count me in anytime. And anyone who gets the opportunity to apply to be a part of this, definitely should.” - Suyi Davies Okungbowa - 2017

In 2017, our bursary recipients were Suyi Davies Okungbowa, from Lagos, Nigeria, and Dolly Garland from London, UK. In 2018 our recipients were Nisi Shawl (right) from the USA, and Rochita Loenen Ruiz, a Filipina writer, currently resident in the Netherlands. R ecipients for Milford 2019 were Russell Smith (UK), and Mbozi Haimbe (UK). There was no Milford in 2020 due to Covid. At Milford 2021 we had Charlotte Forfieh (UK) and Georgina Kamsika (UK). Bursary writers for 2022 were Ramya Jegatheesan (UK) and Somto Iheuze (Nigeria). Bursary writers for 2023 were Neon Yang (UK) and Okotowaa Ofori (Ghana.).

I eventually found my way to writing fiction based in Indian culture, after trying my hand at what I thought was normal (fantasy with white characters). Returning to my root culture was, for me, a necessity to find my authentic voice. Milford's bursary is extremely valuable for people like me. It encourages the simple truth that we do need more diversity in our literature so that every writer doesn't pick up a pen thinking writing white characters is the normal thing to do. - Dolly Garland - 2017

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On Going to Milford and the Value of a Bursary

By Rochita Loenen-Ruiz

I had given up on writing. Or at least I thought I had.

I lost my husband in 2015. After that, I lost my sister. In the same year that I lost my sister, I lost my father.

Each of these losses came at a moment when I thought to myself, let me pick up the pen and write again. After a while, the losses overshadowed my desire to write. I looked at the words and they made no sense. Well, I said to myself. I suppose this means writing has left me. And I thought I should do my best to be happy without writing. And for a while, I really thought I was happy without the writing. Except I really wasn’t. Every once in a while, I would go back to the written work. I would write. Run out of energy. Sink into despair. ‘There’s no point in courting the muse, when she’s not ready to be courted,’ is what I told myself. So, when the email came from Jacey Bedford telling me that there had been a unanimous vote to offer me a bursary for the Milford writers workshop. I did not know how to answer. Could I go when I felt like the world’s shittiest writer? How would I manage that? How could I possibly leave my children and go away for a week? I thought of my sister and the conversation we had before we parted ways that final time.

‘You must write,’ she said. ‘If you stop writing, I’ll never talk to you again.’The funny thing is how a good friend repeated those same words to me.

‘Go,’ she said. ‘You must go or I won’t speak to you again.’The thing about receiving a bursary when you are lost in the wasteland is how it becomes a beacon in the darkness. For the first time in a long time, I began to hope. As the days passed and as Milford took on a more solid form inside my head. The urge to write and to write more and to write something that meant something to me began to grow. I then decided to let go of all my previous plans for what I should write and simply write as a way of reaching out to my sister.I wrote a lot of words that ended up getting discarded, but I was writing almost everyday. Then, on a visit to the mountains, I felt my sister’s presence. I remembered how I used to be terrified of tumbling down the side of the mountain and of how I wouldn’t go down the mountainside to school if she didn’t come back up and hold my hand. Even when she was exasperated, she would climb back up to where I was, reach out her hand and take hold of mine. The memory of that moment is distilled in the novel excerpt I submitted to Milford. Milford stays with me as a moment of brightness. I learned from the work of my fellow writers, and I learned from the way they looked at the various works offered for criticque.  More than the writing and the reading of the work and more than the getting to know other writers, I have become more convinced that there are more of us who would rather build bridges than walls. There is a grace in creating space where conversations and dialogues are possible without the harsh stridency we see in the world today.I am very thankful to everyone who made my Milford week possible. I am thankful for the generosity and kindness of those who voted for me as one of the bursary recipients for 2018 and I am thankful for the individuals who made and who continue to make the bursary possible for the coming years. On my second day in Wales, Liz Williams and Kari Sperring took me for a drive to the beach at Trefor. We walked and we talked, and on the way back we were gifted with the sight of a double rainbow stretching out over the waters. We stopped to take pictures and as we stood there, I felt very blessed. I was with beloved friends and I was writing again. I wrote more than 10,000 words while I was at Milford and came home with close to a quarter of a novel.

I am writing still.

From our 2019 bursary recipients, Mbozi (Tania) Haimbe and Russell Smith

On Receiving a Milford Bursary For SFF Writers of Colour
by Mbozi (Tania) Haimbe

Mine was a late application for one of the two bursaries following unfortunate circumstances that lead to the previous recipient being unable to attend. After a whirlwind of events, preparing for the conference both in terms of making my submission and reading the submissions of my fellow participants, I arrived at Trigonos on Saturday evening nervous and not entirely sure what to expect. My first impression of the venue: absolutely breath-taking. Set beside a lake with Snowdon looking over the site, a peaceful walled garden with a stream running through it, extensive gardens; I felt fortunate to be here. Then I met everyone who’d arrived for the conference, and my nerves dissipated at their warm welcome. Lovely food, great company, and it was on to the first round of critiquing on Sunday afternoon. I will say the experience is intense but entirely worth it. Critiquing the work of other writers, and having my own work critiqued by writers working within the genre has been so beneficial for developing my writing and identifying my blind-spots.

I learned a lot over the week, both during the critiques and during down time. And I also had a lot of fun! Because of the way the days were configured, I had the opportunity to get some writing done, and managed to complete a short story that had been languishing half-completed on my hard drive. I came away from the conference energized, and absolutely determined to continue writing SFF, which, although gaining traction, is still an emerging genre within the African writing community. I also gained new friends.To anyone considering applying for the bursary, I would say: please do!

From Russell Smith
Tania and I were the recipients of the 2019 Milford Bursary for Writers of Colour. Thanks to a bunch of people strongly suggesting that I might apply for it, and the results being successful, I had my entire time at the conference covered as well as full-board accommodation for the week. This meant I could get there at all, for a start. I hope it has been abundantly clear that I personally found the experience not only highly enjoyable, but also utterly valuable when it came to going forward with the work in progress I took along. I had some exceptional encouragement and every one of the crits I got back will aid me greatly in some way with the next stage. When you have folk like that urging you along, you know you’re going to be just fine. Better than fine. I can’t speak for Tania as to her time at the retreat, but I can certainly tell you her work in progress is going to be quite something when it’s finished. If you are eligible and thinking about applying, honestly, do it.

OUR BURSARY SPONSORS
Thanks to all our sponsors who have enabled us to provide funding to writers who would otherwise not have been able to attend Milford. We believe it's vitally important to encourage writers from diverse backgrounds.

• Several writer donors who wish to remain anonymous.
  Eight Squared Eastercon
  Dr Anthony Francis
  Eastercon 2018 (Harrogate)
• Terie Garrison Bequest
• Gladstone's Library