| The Island Institute's residencies provide opportunities for four writers to each spend a month in Sitka, Alaska, pursuing their own work and getting to know this unique island community in the forested coastal mountains of Southeast Alaska.
Residents' time is largely their own to pursue their work, but each person is expected to take part in a community activity approximately once a week (more if desired). These might include public readings, talks to school or college classes, writing workshops, radio interviews, discussions with special interest groups, or other events appropriate to the writer's background.
Each resident is provided living accommodations including a kitchen and a stipend of $300 toward food costs. Travel to and from Sitka, as well as all other incidental costs, are the responsibility of the resident.
Three positions are filled by application. There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year and January and April of the following year. The November position each year is reserved for an international writer who comes to Sitka from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
The program aims to encourage the work of both promising and published writers who share the interests of The Island Institute - the nature of vital communities, the social and ethical web of human relationships and connections to the natural world, the global effort to shape sustainable human cultures.
The next application deadline is April 15, 2008 for positions in September, 2008 and January and April 2009. Follow this link to download an application (Adobe®.pdf file).
|
 |
"This was a life-changing residency. Not only did it allow me to work in an inter-disciplinary fashion,
both writing poems and researching/drafting my work…it also introduced me to a wonderful community.
Melanie Almeder, Poet
Roanoke, Virginia
|
|
September 13 – October 11, 2007
Australian fiction writer Jesse Kate Blackadder. Jesse is the author of the novel After the Party and is at work on a new novel of historical fiction set in 16th century Scotland. Both works delve into questions of place, belonging, and landscape. Her free-lance professional writing busines, Blackadder Communications, keeps her involved with issues of the day in Australia, including sustainable natural resource use through work with Landcare.
November 27 – December 15, 2007
South African fiction writer Tom Dreyer. Tom has authored three novels, most recently Equatoria (2006) and one collection of short stories, Polaroid (2007). Born in Cape Town, he publishes in English and Afrikaans. Among his awards is the 2001 Eugène Marais Prize from the South African Academy for Arts and Science for his second novel Stinkafrikaners (2000). His poems and prose have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in South Africa. Currently, he is at work on his fourth novel, tentatively titled Benguela.
April, 2008
Maine fiction writer and memoirist Jaed Coffin. Jaed's first book, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants (November, 2007), is a memoir about the summer he returned to his mother's native village in Thailand to be ordained as a monk in the local Buddhist temple. He is at work on a novel/memoir about the year he spent training for and winning the Southeast Alaska middleweight boxing title.
|
