The Bessie Head Heritage Trust

We became a legal Trust in June 2007. Our duly recognised mandate is to promote Bessie's writings, offer an annual writing competition for residents of Botswana, assist Head scholars and scholarship, protect and preserve the Head house, and keep alive Bessie's heritage as a radical thinker. The photo shows Bessie's writing desk and typewriter.

Bessie Head Literature Awards
Together with sponsor Pentagon Publishers of Gaborone, the Trust offers an annual national writing competition that offers substantial prizes for best novel, short story, and poetry. In 2007 we organised the first annual competition and judged the entries in anticipation of becoming a Trust.

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 here. Or contact us at bessiehead@gmail.com. Thank you for your support!

National Heritage Site application made
In September 2006 the Bessie Head Heritage Organising Committee, together with Serowe's Khama III Memorial Museum, filed an application to Botswana's Department of Culture, asking that Bessie Head's house in Serowe be proclaimed a National Heritage Site. The Dept reassures as that the application remains alive, even after three years. You may read the full application documents here.

Trustees of the Trust
At this time the Trust has six Voting Trustees, all resident in Botswana. Three are from Gaborone and three are from Serowe:

The Trust also enjoys the support and advice of several international Honorary Trustees and Advisory Trustees.