Flemish authors
As a Flemish writer you can apply for a residency in Belgium or abroad. The residency gives you the chance to do research, to develop an international network and to write.
Abroad
Every spring Passa Porta puts out a call to writers to apply for a writer residency abroad. For 2021 you can apply for a specific residency at one of Passa Porta’s international partners. There are six residency possibilities, in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and South Africa. You could also make your own suggestion for a writer residency abroad.
A a short description of the writing places is given below.
Italy — Rome
The Academia Belgica is a unique artistic and scientific centre in the heart of Rome, housed in a splendid villa in a green setting near the park of Villa Borghese. The Academia is focused on research, creation and collaboration between Italian and Belgian artists and scientists. With concerts, exhibitions and lectures at the Academia, Belgian scientific and artistic realisations are regularly presented to the Roman public.
Eight Belgian researchers or artists can stay in the Academia Belgica. They have at their disposal spacious and comfortable rooms with bathroom, a common kitchen and living room, a library and a garden.
United Kingdom — Norwich
Unesco declared Norwich a City of Literature in 2012. That is not surprising: the city’s literary heritage is more than 600 years old and it is buzzing with literary-cultural initiatives, which as writer-in-residence you can fully benefit from.
Our partner in Norwich is the National Centre for Writing. The centre is established in Dragon Hall, a medieval trading hall on the river, close to the train station and near the city centre. As the organizer of the writer residencies, the National Centre for Writing offers you a room in a recently renovated cottage with a shared kitchen, bathroom and living area. You also have access to the organisation’s library.
The Netherlands — Maastricht
The Jan van Eyck Academy is a multidisciplinary post-academy in Maastricht that offers its participants the time, space and expertise they need to deepen their artistic practice and broaden their horizons. Each year, the Jan van Eyck Academy welcomes around 45 artists, designers (graphic design, fashion, food, etc.), curators, architects and other researchers. The Academy also offers a number of 2 or 3 month residencies for writers and poets. They can stay at the academy as part of a group of highly international and interdisciplinary artists, designers, curators and thinkers. They have their own studio and flat and can use all the facilities at the academy. At the end of the period, they will take part in public discussions with another writer of their choice.
This residency is organised in collaboration with the Flemish-Dutch House in Buren. Selection is by separate call.
The Netherlands — Amsterdam
The Dutch writer’s apartment is located in a seventeenth-century building on the Spui, a picturesque square in the heart of Amsterdam. With its many cafés, restaurants, shops and historical buildings, this area breathes art and culture.
The apartment was completely fitted out by young Dutch artists and interior designers. It has a surface area of 90 m2 and two bedrooms, a fully fitted kitchen and a workspace.
Germany — Berlin
For more than 50 years already the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin has been a prominent forum for literary events, workshops and residencies.
The LCB welcomes writers and translators in a beautiful country house on the Wannsee setting. In this quiet and verdant spot, a stone’s throw from Berlin, 11 authors and translators can work on their respective projects.
The Jakes Gerwel Foundation is a South African non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in its broadest sense. The foundation owns a writer's house - Paulet House - in Somerset East, which it plans to open to writers for the first time. In addition to South African writers, the foundation is also opening its doors to a Flemish writer.
Somerset East is a small town in the rural Eastern Cape, about 200 km north of Port Elizabeth. Paulet House, the former home of Jakes Gerwel, is situated at the foot of Bosberg Mountain. The author has access to this spacious, recently renovated house and its lush garden.
Belgium
As a Belgian writer, you can also take up a residency in your own country in the Lijsternest (Ingooigem). These residencies are also attributed after a call for applications in the spring.
Ingooigem — Het Lijsternest
On a hillock in the West Flemish village of Ingooigem lies the Lijsternest, the former home of writer Stijn Streuvels. The Letterenhuis in Antwerp, which manages the villa, puts the Lijsternest at the disposal of Belgian and Dutch authors.
As writer-in-residence at the Lijsternest, you stay in the barn, which is separate from the house. This barn has been converted into a comfortable studio with all necessary sanitary facilities, a kitchen, bedroom and an Internet connection.
