Melbourne City of Literature – Virtual Writer in Residency callout

To all writers from our sister UNESCO Cities of Literature – we are inviting you to put yourself forward to be one of our virtual writers in residence in November this year.

From poets to playwrights, this is an opportunity to get to know Melbourne’s vibrant and varied literary community up close by spending November working with one of the many organisations that make us a City of Literature:

Below is the list of hosts that we have and the simple point of inspiration they are looking for!

Boroondara Libraries is looking for a writer to connect with a passionate literary community and explore a sense of place and local history from a fresh creative perspective. https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/services/libraries

F Project is looking for a writer who exhibits the kind of quirky fun that makes life worth living and who will nurture the experimentation and creativity at the centre of our community. https://www.thefproject.org.au/

Kingston Libraries Home is seeking an author to connect our diverse multicultural community with the world. https://library.kingston.vic.gov.au/

Melbourne Writers’ Theatre is looking for an experienced playwright to share their knowledge, their culture, and perhaps their latest play with our community of enthusiastic playwrights. https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/

Moorabool Shire Council – Moorabool Libraries seek a writer who is passionate about short stories, who can engage, inspire and guide writers of all ages, to foster a vibrant literary community in Moorabool. www.moorabool.vic.gov.au

Myli-My Community Library is seeking engaging, passionate writer who is highly enthusiastic about working across a variety of age groups and genres. www.myli.org.au

Society Women Writers Victoria https://www.swwvic.org.au/ is seeking a female writer to help us explore different short forms of writing to expand our members’ expertise and interest.

Whitehorse Manningham Libraries are seeking a writer who can engage our community and harness the power of literature to foster connections among diverse groups. www.wml.vic.gov.au

This content will be any three of the following (or three of just one of the following)

a workshop
a written piece
an appearance/ panel
a social media takeover

The residency will also include opportunities for meetings with all the writers in residence and facilitated further connections with Melbourne as a City of Literature

As one of our virtual writers in residence you will be paid $1500(AUD) and you will retain all copyright for your work.

To be eligible you need to be a writer and resident presently in one of the UNESCO Cities of Literature

APPLICATIONS

Follow this link https://cityofliterature.wufoo.com/forms/xgb29n30x6zf8q/ express your interest in being a virtual writer in residence. You will be asked to nominate your choice of organisation and what you would love to do for and with them! We strongly suggest you have a look at all organisations and think of your interactions before starting this form.

They are looking to be excited and inspired by your thoughts and the possibility of connecting with you!

Deadline for submissions: 11.59pm Monday 2 Sept AET.

We invite you to explore all of our hosts online but if you have any specific questions to ask the City of Literature office

Prague UNESCO City of Literature Residency for Writers and Translators 2025

Prague City of Literature offers an opportunity to writers and translators to live and work in the Prague city centre.

This call goes for eight two-month residencies in 2025 which will be held in:

January–February
March–April
May–June
July – August
September – October
November – 15th December

Applicants need at least one published literary work (not a private edition), two broadcasts, published radio dramas, one carried out or published theatre play, or at least one translated work of a Czech author.
The accommodation and travel expenses are covered by Prague City of Literature.

Required documents:
Completed application form
optional: Extract from a published text (in Czech or in English) or sample of a translated text into Czech; max 2 pages
Selection criteria:
Knowledge of English language
At least one published literary work (not a private edition) or two broadcast or published radio dramas or one carried out or published theatre play or at least one translated work of a Czech author
Willingness to participate in the local literary life (author readings, meeting students, talks, activities arranged by the receiving institution or connected to the cultural events of the city)
Working on the writings during the stay
Cultural interest for the location
The author who has already once received the scholarship can’t apply again
The Resident agrees that during their residential stay or no later than 2 months after its conclusion, they will provide the Municipal Library of Prague with a text inspired by their stay. The Municipal Library of Prague, through the project ‘Prague City of Literature’, will be authorized to use this text for promoting residential stays. A license agreement will be entered into between the Municipal Library of Prague and the Resident, allowing the use of the text in both electronic and printed formats.

Deadline for submissions: 20 August 2024

The results will be announced by October 31, 2024.

More Information

National Poetry Competition 2024 – The Poetry Society (UK)

The 2024 National Poetry Competition is now open for entries.

The competition, run by The Poetry Society, (poetrysociety.org.uk) is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single unpublished poem.

Work from poets at every stage of their writing careers is welcome, and the judges read all entries via an anonymised judging process, only discovering the identity of the winner after making their final decision. The competition has recognised previously unpublished newcomers, established names, and emerging talents.

The National Poetry Competition offers to winners a first prize of £5,000, a second prize of £2,000, a third prize of £1,000 and commendations of £500 each. The top three winners are also published in The Poetry Society’s journal The Poetry Review.

Submission deadline: 31st October

Judges
This year’s judges are Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Romalyn Ante, Associate Publisher at Carcanet Press John McAuliffe and Forward Prize for Best First Collection winner Stephen Sexton.

For more information

Winner of Dublin Literary Award 2024 -Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu and translated by Sean Cotter

Dublin City Council announces Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu and translated by Sean Cotter as winner of the
2024 Dublin Literary Award

Thursday 23rd May 2024: Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu and American translator Sean Cotter have been announced today as winners of the 2024 Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for the novel Solenoid (published by Deep Vellum). 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 Mircea Cărtărescu receives €75,000 and Sean Cotter, as translator, receives €25,000. Solenoid is the 12th 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 26th May. Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Daithí de Róiste made the announcement and Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens presented the prizes to the winning author and translator at the International Literature Festival Dublin Literary Village in Merrion Square Park.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste said “Solenoid illustrates the elasticity of human imagination where the reader is invited on a fantastical ride with a nameless anti-hero in Bucharest. Mircea Cărtărescu and Sean Cotter deserve to win the Dublin Literary Award for this surreal masterpiece in the 21st century.
I’d like to congratulate them both and thank everyone involved in the award – writers, translators, librarians, publishers and the administrative staff of Dublin City Council.”
“I am delighted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award winners. Solenoid, is the first novel translated from Romanian to win the award since its inception, 29 years ago,” said Richard Shakespeare, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council. “This international award from a UNESCO City of literature, shows the commitment Dublin City Council and its libraries have to uniting readers and story makers across the world.”
Nominated by ”Octavian Goga” Cluj County Library in Romania, the winning novel was chosen from a shortlist of six novels by writers from Canada, Ireland, Australia and the United States.
The longlist of 70 titles was nominated by 80 libraries from 35 countries.
Winner Mircea Cărtărescu commented that “Winning the Dublin Literary Award is one of the most significant achievements in my whole literary career, and a great honour for me. It shows an increase in my image as a writer in the English-speaking world after the publication of Solenoid, my breakthrough novel. I am grateful to the jury who chose my book from so many other wonderful ones.”

American translator, Sean Cotter said “The Dublin Literary Award awards translators alongside authors, a choice as unusual as it is necessary. I am honored to be recognized with as great an author as Mircea, from as great a literature as the Romanian, and I hold in my heart the community of Romanian translators, all those who translate the world’s smaller literatures, all those who translate.”
Mircea Cărtărescu and Sean Cotter will appear at the International Literature Festival Dublin, for an in-depth conversation about the novel, with Alex Clark, tomorrow evening (Friday 24th May) at 6pm in Merrion Square Park (Synge stage).

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 2024 Judging Panel, led by Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College Dublin, and includes Ingunn Snædal, Daniel Medin, Lucy Collins, Anton Hur and Irenosen Okojie, commented:
“By turns wildly inventive, philosophical, and lyrical, with passages of great beauty, Solenoid is the work of a major European writer who is still relatively little known to English-language readers. Sean Cotter’s translation of the novel sets out to change that situation, capturing the lyrical precision of the original, thereby opening up Cărtărescu’s work to an entirely new readership.”

Watch the Dublin Literary Award 2024 Winner Announcements Highlights

Watch Dublin Literary Award Winners Mircea Cărtărescu and Sean Cotter In Conversation

Mircea Cărtărescu is a writer, professor, and journalist who has published more than twenty-five books. His work has received the Formentor Prize (2018), the Thomas Mann Prize (2018), the Austrian State Prize for Literature (2015), and the Vilenica Prize (2011), among many others. His work has been translated in twenty-three languages. His novel Blinding was published by Archipelago in Sean Cotter’s English translation.

Sean Cotter is a translator and professor of literature and translation at the University of Texas at Dallas. A previous National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellow, Cotter is the translator of 11 books, including T.O. Bobe’s Curl and Nichita Stănescu’s Wheel with a Single Spoke and Other Poems, which was awarded the Best Translated Book Award for Poetry. His translation of Magda Cârneci’s FEM, a finalist for the PEN Translation Award, was published by Deep Vellum in 2021.

About Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu
Based on Cărtărescu’s own role as a high school teacher, Solenoid begins with the mundane details of a diarist’s life and quickly spirals into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. On a broad scale, the novel’s investigations of other universes, dimensions, and timelines reconcile the realms of life and art.

The novel is grounded in the reality of late 1970s/early 1980s Communist Romania, including long lines for groceries, the absurdities of the education system, and the misery of family life.

Combining fiction with autobiography and history, Solenoid ruminates on the exchanges possible between the alternate dimensions of life and art within the Communist present.

One Dublin One Book 2024

Dublin City Council is delighted to announce that Snowflake by Louise Nealon is the One Dublin One Book choice for 2024, following on from The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes in 2023.

One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April every year. This annual project is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, which encourages reading for pleasure. Announcing the choice, Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens, said:

“A debut novel, Snowflake from Louise Nealon is a tender story of a college student from the country adjusting to her new life in Dublin. Raw, yet affirming, this book will appeal to all readers as it explores life’s milestones, family, mental health and how we ultimately connect with others while facing big challenges. I am excited about reaching new audiences with this book and generating discussion among readers in the city and beyond next April.” Continue reading

Winner of Dublin Literary Award 2023 – Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp translated by Jo Heinrich

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/

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.

LitTransformer 2023 International Translation Workshop

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 Writers in Residence Programme 2023

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

2023 Dublin Literary Award Shortlist Revealed

Six novels have been shortlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, which awards excellence in world literature. Celebrating 28 years, this award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the book has been translated the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000. Distinctive among literary prizes, nominations are chosen by librarians and readers from a network of libraries around the world.

The 2023 Award winner will be chosen from a diverse and international shortlist which includes four novels in translation, from Croatian, French, Spanish, and German. The shortlist features authors who are American, Mexican, German, Croatian, and Canadian-Vietnamese.

The 28^th winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be announced by its Patron, Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy on Thursday 25^th May, as part of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD), which is also funded by Dublin City Council.

The shortlisted titles are:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (American). Published by Scribner/4^th Nominated by Katona József Library of Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary.
The Trees by Percival Everett (American). Published by Graywolf Press (US) and Influx Press (UK). Nominated by Free Library of Philadelphia, USA.
Paradais by Fernanda Melchor (Mexican) translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. Nominated by Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, Mexico.
Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (German) translated from German by Jo Heinrich. Published by Peirene Press. Nominated by Stadtbüchereien Düsseldorf, Germany.
Love Novel by Ivana Sajko (Croatian) translated from Croatian by Mima Simić. Published by V&Q Books. Nominated by Rijeka City Library, Croatia.
Em by Kim Thúy (Canadian-Vietnamese) translated from French by Sheila Fischman. Published by Seven Stories Press. Nominated by Hartford Public Library, USA.

The international panel of judges who have selected the shortlist and will select the winner, features Gabriel Gbadamosi who is an Irish and Nigerian poet, playwright and critic based in London; Marie Hermet who is a writer and translator who teaches creative writing and translation at the Université Paris Cité; English writer Sarah Moss who is the author of eight novels and now teaches on the MA and MFA in creative writing at UCD; Doireann Ní Ghríofa who is a bilingual poet, essayist and translator from Co. Clare; and Arunava Sinha who translates fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Bengali to English and from English to Bengali and has won several translation awards in India.

The non-voting Chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.

The six member international judging panel, chaired by Prof. Chris Morash, will select one winner, which will be announced by the Patron of the Award, Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy on Thursday 25th May during the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) which runs from the 19^th to the 28^th May 2023 in Merrion Square.

The novels nominated and shortlisted for the Award will be available for readers to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and from public libraries around Ireland, or can be borrowed as eBooks and some as eAudiobooks on the free Borrowbox app, available to all public library users.

The shortlist can be viewed on the Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.

Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Small Grants Scheme 2023

Dublin UNESCO City of Literature supported by Dublin City Council provides small grants up to a maximum of €5,000 to individuals and organisations which contribute to the promotion of literature in the City.

We are particularly interested in projects that:

display innovation and diversity, in line with the objectives of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature’s strategy over the 2020 – 2022 period.
prioritise free and accessible events for the public.

Funding is available for activities/ projects that take place between 1st January – 31st December 2023.

We are committed to allocating our limited resources across as many organisations as possible and this may mean that recipients who have been successful in receiving funding in the past may not necessarily be allocated a grant again in 2023. It may however be possible for a partial grant to be given so it is useful for us if you break down your submission into constituent parts to enable us to identify where we may be able to assist in some way.

CLOSING DATE THURSDAY 23RD MARCH 2023 12 NOON

Please email the completed form to cityofliterature@dublincity.ie