Tek. Boakye D. Alpha, a proud alumnus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has been selected as one of ten Fellows for the Escalator New Writing Fellowships 2025–2026 and named a Reeves Award Fellow, marking a significant milestone in his growing international literary career.
The Escalator Fellowship, administered by the National Centre for Writing (UK), is a highly competitive annual programme that supports early-career fiction writers whose voices are underrepresented on UK bookshelves. Now in its twentieth year, the programme has produced numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed authors.
In addition to being selected for the Escalator Fellowship, Alpha was chosen as one of this year’s Reeves Award Fellows, a distinction that specifically champions Afro-Caribbean and Black British voices in UK publishing. The dual recognition places him among a select group of emerging writers shaping contemporary literary discourse.
A graduate of BA English (Class of 2021), Alpha was actively involved in student leadership and literary development during his time at KNUST. He served as Vice President and later President of the KNUST Writers’ Association, resided in University Hall (Katanga), and completed his National Service at the University Relations Office (URO). His undergraduate thesis, a collection of short stories, earned an A grade, reflecting his early commitment to creative excellence.
Following his studies at KNUST, Alpha was awarded the Global Voices Scholarship, a fully funded opportunity for writers from Africa, through which he completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
Describing the fellowship as both affirming and transformative, Alpha noted that the recognition arrived at a critical moment in his creative journey, reinforcing his commitment to his current novel project. Over the next eight months, the programme will provide one-to-one mentoring, industry insight sessions, workshops, and a showcase to literary agents and publishers, under the mentorship of acclaimed writer Yvvette Edwards.
Boakye D. Alpha is a Ghanaian interdisciplinary creative whose work spans poetry, prose, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, and filmmaking. His writing has appeared in Lolwe, The Shallow Tales Review, and other publications, and in 2025, his short story was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His work-in-progress explores gendered violence and systemic oppression in Ghana through layered, intergenerational narratives.
Alpha credits KNUST as foundational to his development as a writer, describing the University as the place where his passion for storytelling was nurtured and given direction.
His achievement adds to the growing list of KNUST alumni making global impact across the creative arts and reinforces the University’s commitment to producing graduates who shape discourse and inspire change worldwide.