LAHP Placement Opportunity with Wasafiri
Application deadline: 11.59pm, 20 April, 2025
Interviews: Week commencing 28 April, 2025
Start date: 6 May, 2025 preferred
Hours: part-time 2 days/14 hours per week for six months (shorter placements will be considered)
Location: In-person and hybrid remote/in-person options available. Offices are at Queen Mary University of London, Mile End campus.
The LAHP-funded researcher undertaking a placement at Wasafiri will also receive an extension to their stipend, equivalent to the duration of their placement.
The Placement in Brief
A chance to build your own network and gain experience behind the scenes at an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation with a forty-year history of radical publishing and curriculum change. This placement will focus on the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, which closes for entries on 30 June, 2025. The placement holder will work closely with the Wasafiri team, particularly the Administration and Programmes Manager, and will learn about running a literary prize. They will also support with the administration of the prize, reading and assessing prize entries, data evaluation for prize reporting, and work on the prize-giving ceremony.
The magazine
Wasafiri is the UK’s leading magazine of international contemporary writing. Launched in 1984 to create a vibrant publication space for authors and critics from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, and their diasporas, Wasafiri has spread its reach over the last forty years to encompass the works of writers worldwide, championing underrepresented writers from all backgrounds. Having pioneered a shift in the literary, cultural, and critical landscape, the magazine draws widely across modern culture and the arts, publishing a lively and informed mix of fiction, poetry, interviews, essays, articles, art, and reviews. You can access the magazine here.
The placement in detail
Wasafiri has been successfully working with LAHP placement students since 2024. Activities include:
· Managing entries to the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.
· Reading and assessing entries to the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.
· Contributing to promotion strategy for the prize, as well as wider organisational strategy, including events and special projects.
· Supporting the data gathering and reporting of the 2024 and 2025 prizes.
· Supporting the Administration and Programmes Manager with the planning and delivery of 2025 prize giving event.
· Managing relationships with judges, external readers, prize partners, shortlistees and winners, and growing a personal network of arts practitioners and researchers.
As well as providing an introduction and foundation to working in the arts beyond academia, Wasafiri placements offer students the skills necessary for the completion of their own research – including time management, editing, and communication – as well as developing academic networks and gaining a better understanding of the journal publishing process.
Only LAHP-funded researchers at LAHP-affiliated institutions can apply.
The successful candidate will report to Wasafiri’s Administration and Programmes Manager, Elizabeth Robertson. For more information, or with queries about the placement, please email: [email protected]
Applications should consist of a cover letter of up to a page and a CV, sent to [email protected] by no later than 11.59pm BST, 20 April, 2025.
Cover photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash