Scholarship applications for the 2024 Iceland Writers Retreat are available and are due October 31, 2023 by 11:59 pm GMT. 

It is free to apply.

The Iceland Writers Retreat (IWR) will be held in Reykjavik, a UNESCO City of Literature, from April 24-28, 2024. At the IWR, participants gather for small group workshops on the craft of writing led by esteemed faculty.

In 2024 the faculty will include: Jeannette Walls, Katie Kitamura, Hari Kunzru, Meg Wolitzer, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Phil Klay, Omar El Akkad, Frida Isberg, Vivek Shraya, Deirdre Mask, Nicole Krauss, and others.   Continue reading

Residents of Dublin and other UNESCO Cities of Literature are invited to apply for a Writer/Artist Residency in Dilsberg, provided by Heidelberg UNESCO of Literature.
Candidates have the possibility to apply as team of two artists (grant holder and co-fellow) as 2 sleeping rooms are available (individual application is necessary).
The co-recipient should also have his/her own artistic expertise, which has not necessarily to be in the literary field (could be translation for instance, but also such as music, visual arts, performing arts, film, etc.).
Both artistic personalities have to demonstrate an artistic or interdisciplinary cooperation and should be personally well acquainted to each other. While the grant holder has to, it is not essential that the co-grantee is coming from a UNESCO City of Literature.
The co-grantee will be provided with the same financial resources as the grant holder.
The artists in residence share a kitchenette and a bathroom in the fully furnished apartment.
The apartment is unfortunately not accessible for disabled persons.
Benefits
Total value max. € 3,750 per person:
Subsistence allowance of € 1,350 per person (€ 15 per day)
Monthly allowance/pocket money of € 750 per person
Additional benefits
Travel allowance (international flights, economy class) of up to € 1,000
Public transportation ticket for the Rhine-Neckar public transport network (VRN) limited to the duration of the stay
Application requirements
Kitchenette (Photo: Kulturstiftung Rhein-Neckar-Kreis)
Registered residence in a UNESCO City of literature (main grant holder)
Publication of at least one book (prose, essay, narration, poetry, etc.) by an official/independent publisher (main grant holder)
Good to very good knowledge of German and/or English language.
Willingness to participate in local literary life (Dilsberg or Heidelberg) e.g. talks with protagonist of the regional literary scene arranged by the grant donors.
Further details and to apply: https://www.heidelberg.de/…/writers+in+residence…

PRAGUE – UNESCO City of Literature

Two-month residency 2024 for writers and translators

The project Prague City of Literature offers residency stays for foreign writers and translators. There are eight residencies available for 2024, each lasts two months.
Prague City of Literature reimburses the resident for a return ticket, provides accommodation for free and a stipend of CZK 15,000 (approx. 600 euro) per month.
Apply by Thursday, August 31, 2023

For more details click here

TARTU UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE RESIDENCY PROGRAM FOR THE TRANSLATORS OF ESTONIAN LITERATURE

Tartu is the second largest town of Estonia but is widely considered its intellectual capital – vitally significant in developing the educational system, culture, science and literature in the Estonian language. In 2015 Tartu was designated UNESCO City of Literature which has further enhanced the vibrant literary scene.

Tartu City of Literature residency program for the translators of Estonian literature aims to support translators by enabling them to work in the local cultural environment, strengthen their connection with the literary scene of Tartu and potentially get better access to the resources necessary for their work. The programme is open to all translators (translating literature from Estonian into other languages) from across the world, who meet the criteria described below and are currently not residents of Estonia.

The Estonian Literary Society coordinates the residency program in cooperation with the Tartu Department of the Estonian Writers Union and in partnership with various other literary institutions. The programme is supported by the City of Tartu and the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

This call is for a 1-month residency in September 2023. One applicant will be selected.
The deadline for applications is July 20th.  The results will be announced by August 4th at the latest.

What we offer:

● 1-month stay at the former Karl Ristikivi Museum. Karl Ristikivi (1912–1977) was a renowned Estonian writer whose works are considered among the core texts of 20th-century Estonian prose. The apartment, owned by the City of Tartu and currently managed by the Estonian Literary Society, was his last residence in Estonia before his exile in Sweden in 1943. The historical atmosphere of the apartment has been preserved but all modern facilities are available. The gas-heated apartment is on the first floor of the two-story house in a quiet residential district near the city centre.
● A scholarship of 600 euros
● Compensation for travel costs to and from Tartu up to 350 euros
● An opportunity to get engaged in the cultural scene of Tartu
● A contact person who is responsible for making arrangements for meetings and tours and helps to engage in the local literary life

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Required documents (to be sent by July 20th 2023 to the address eks@kirjandus.ee

● Application form filled out:   Available here
● Fragment (up to 5 pages) of a published translation (from Estonian into another
language)
Criteria
● Upper intermediate level of spoken English or Estonian
● At least one published translation from Estonian into another language by the applicant
● Interest in Estonian culture and literature
● Readiness to participate in the local literary life, including events (at least one public talk,discussion etc during the residency), meetings, interviews
● Work on translation(s) during the residency 

Click here for details in Estonian

Additional information:Marja Unt
Estonian Literary Society/Tartu UNESCO City of Literature focal point
eks@kirjandus.ee

Dublin City Council announces Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp translated by Jo Heinrich as winner of the

2023 Dublin Literary Award

Thursday 25th May 2023: German author Katja Oskamp and English translator Jo Heinrich have been announced today as winners of the 2023 Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for the novel Marzahn, Mon Amour (published by Peirene Press). The Award is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English.

Uniquely, the Award receives its nominations from public libraries around the world and recognises both writers and translators. Author Katja Oskamp receives €75,000 and Jo Heinrich, as translator, receives €25,000.  Marzahn, Mon Amour is the 11^th novel in translation to win the Dublin Literary Award.

The winning title was announced today at a special event, at International Literature Festival Dublin, which runs until 28^th May.  Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Caroline Conroy made the announcement and Dublin City Librarian, presented the prizes to Katja and Jo at the International Literature Festival Dublin Literary Village in Merrion Square Park.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy said “Marzahn, Mon Amour is a beautifully written novel. It’s a warm, witty and moving portrait of older residents in Berlin, which offers the reader an insight into a community often overlooked. I’d like to congratulate Katja Oskamp and Jo Heinrich on winning the 2023 Dublin Literary Award and to thank everyone involved in the award – writers, translators, librarians, publishers and the administrative staff of Dublin City Council.”

“I offer my congratulations to the Dublin Literary Award winners 2023 for Marzahn, Mon Amour, said Owen Keegan, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council. Through its public libraries, the City Council is committed to the Dublin Literary Award,which recognises great story-telling across the globe.”

Nominated by Stadtbüchereien Düsseldorf in Germany, the winning novel was chosen from a shortlist of six novels by writers from Croatia, Mexico, Germany, United States and Canada/Vietnam.

The longlist of 70 titles was nominated by 84 libraries from 31 countries.

Winner Katja Oskamp commented that ‘This prize honours my work as a writer and as a chiropodist in the most wonderful way possible. I am proud that the jury’s decision draws attention to the moving biographies of my East German compatriots.’

Translator, Jo Heinrich said ‘I can’t get over the warm reception this book has had, and the way people have really taken it into their hearts. The last few weeks have been mind-blowing for a newbie translator; my concentration span has been decidedly lacking since I heard we’d be here in Dublin – but this is the absolute high point of my life, and I really cannot thank you all enough.’   

Katja Oskamp and Jo Heinrich will appear at  ILFDublin, for an in-depth conversation about the novel, with broadcaster Rick O’Shea, tomorrow evening (Friday 26th May) at 6.15pm in Merrion Square Park (Speranza stage).

Book to attend in person or online:

https://ilfdublin.com/whats-on/festival/programme/main/in-conversation-with-the-2023-dublin-literary-award-winner/

Copies of the winning title are available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and from public libraries throughout Ireland. Readers can also borrow the winning novel on BorrowBox in eBook format. Further details about the Award and the winning novel are available on the Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie

The 2023 Judging Panel, led by Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College Dublin, and includes Gabriel Gbadamosi, Marie Hermet, Sarah Moss, Arunava Sinha and Doireann Ní Ghríofa, commented:

“Every so often, you come across a novel whose simple, direct honesty knocks you sideways.  There is an unaffected humility and generosity about Katja Oskamp’s Marzhan, Mon Amour that speaks to the value of community and to the dignity of ordinary lives.  ‘The love I have inside me has turned to liquid,’ concludes the novel’s narrator, ‘and now runs into the most unlikely places’.  To read Marzhan, Mon Amour in Jo Heinrich’s translation from the German is to feel Katja Oskamp’s all-encompassing embrace of her world.”

Watch an extract performed by Aenne Barr –

https://youtu.be/Gh5OjuKMRXQ 

Katja Oskamp was born in 1970 in Leipzig and grew up in Berlin. After completing her degree in theatre studies, she worked as a playwright at the Volkstheater Rostock and went on to study at the German Literature Institute. Her debut collection of stories, Halbschwimmer, was published in 2003. In 2007 she published her first novel, Die Staubfängerin. Marzahn, Mon Amour, published by Hanser with the subtitle ‘A Chiropodist’s Tales’, was selected for the ‘Berlin Reads One Book’ campaign and thus literally became the talk of the town. Marzahn, Mon Amour is her first work to be translated into English.

Like the narrator in Marzahn, Mon Amour, Jo Heinrich found her ideal career in her middle years, and graduated in 2018 with a distinction in her MA in Translation from the University of Bristol. She was shortlisted for the 2020 Austrian Cultural Forum London Translation Prize and the 2019 John Dryden Translation Competition. She translates from French and German, and she lives just outside Bristol with her family. Marzahn, Mon Amour is her first literary translation.

Photo ©Karl Bruninx

Leuven Irish Writer-in-Residence Programme – Call for two residencies in October 2023

The Irish Writer-in-Residence programme is a collaboration between Irish College Leuven and the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies, supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

The residency is for one month, October 2023, when they will host two writers. 

The deadline for applications is 15 June 2023 and the full call  is available here. 

LitTransformer is an international translation workshop that fosters collaboration among translators from various UNESCO Cities of Literature, stressing the importance of literary translation and its power as a regenerative commons. The project was started by Lviv City of Literature and is being continued under the guidance of Ljubljana City of Literature

July 2–10, 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia         

Mentors: Aron Aji, the Director of Center for Translation and Global Literacy, and Translation Programs at the University of Iowa, and Matthias Göritz, professor of Practice of Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Topic: Passages of Survival

Cities are living organisms, constantly reshaped by all forms of violence. However, cities are also creative transformation zones, capable of spurning creative anarchies with regenerative potential. Now, in times of world crises, and particularly one of the biggest wars since the Second World War in the center of Europe – the war in Ukraine – cities will once again speak and hear each other. LitTransformer aims to reflect on the recuperative possibilities of literature and foster translation as cross-cultural dialogue, thus emphasizing the opportunities for empathy.

Toward this aim, the workshop sets out to create an engaging cross-cultural environment where participants are asked to interact creatively by translating poetry from represented CoLs. 

Participants will work in pairs across three languages: their two native languages as well as English, the bridge between them. Each participant will be both a guide into their own urban imaginary (in their native language) and a novice traveler into a foreign one (in their partner’s language). Interrogating their own subjectivities, participating translators will be moving between familiarity and estrangement, experiencing both languages vividly and reflectively. 

Application form: https://forms.gle/1iG4EmrqHprK78Y67

Granada UNESCO City of Literature has just launched the call for applications for Granada Writers in Residence Programme for next November 2023.

The closing date for application submissions is May 31st, 2023. 

Knowledge of the Spanish language will be highly valued, although it will not be essential. 

What’s on offer: A month’s stay (30 nights) in Granada for two writers, between November 3 and December 2, 2023, at the Corrala de Santiago of the University of Granada.

Granada UNESCO City of Literature will cover the travelling expenses of each of the writers selected.

The University of Granada will arrange and cover the costs of accommodation for the two writers. Each will have their own room with full board at the university’s hall of residence for visitors (Corrala de Santiago).

Granada UNESCO City of Literature and the University of Granada will provide the writers in residence with opportunities to participate in the city’s literary life, arranging contacts with local writers, involvement in workshops, teaching activities, and so on.

Completed application forms should be submitted by email to the contact person in the offices of Granada UNESCO City of Literature, Carmen Casares, carmen@granadaciudaddeliteratura.com by no later than May 31, 2023.

The names of the two successful applicants will be announced on June 27, 2023, on the Granada UNESCO City of Literature website (www.granadaciudaddeliteratura.com).

MORE DETAILS