Ledig House International Writers Residency
Overview
Application Guidelines
Ledig House Residents
Guest Speakers
Overview
Ledig House International Writers Residency is located approximately two and a half hours north of New York City in the town of Omi, in the scenic Hudson River Valley. Writers and translators from all fields are encouraged to apply for a residence lasting anywhere from one week to two months. Up to 20 writers per session--10 at a given time--live and write on the stunning 300 acre grounds and sculpture park that overlooks the Catskill Mountains.
Ledig House provides all meals, and each night a cook prepares dinner. Days are reserved as quiet hours, while evenings afford a more communal environment. During each session, several guests from the New York publishing community are invited for dinner and discussion. Bicycles, a swimming pool and nearby tennis court are available for use.
Unless otherwise arranged, writers must provide their own transportation to and from Ledig House. A colony car will be sent to pick writers up at the train station in nearby Hudson, New York. All writers should be proficient in English.
Created in 1992, Ledig House International Writers Residency is named after the German publisher Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt. Ledig had a reputation as a man with an unerring sense of literary quality. His publishing list included prominent writers from around the world--Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner, Yukio Mishima, Jean Paul Sartre, Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, Toni Morrison, Albert Camus, and Thomas Pynchon, to name only a few.
In its short history, Ledig House has hosted hundreds of writers and translators from roughly 50 countries around the world. The colony's strong international emphasis reflects the spirit of cultural exchange that is part of Ledig's enduring legacy.
Application Guidelines for 2009
The annual deadline for applications must be postmarked by November 20. Late applications will be held and considered the succeeding year. Please include the following materials:
- How did you hear about Ledig House?
- A biographical sketch including publications, performances and writing credits.
- One non-returnable copy of your latest published work. If unpublished, send a ten page sample of your latest work.
- A one page description of the work to be undertaken while at Ledig House.
- One letter of recommendation. (This must be included with your application materials and provided in a sealed envelope with the signature of the individual who wrote the letter placed across the seal.)
- One self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for notification. (Non-US applicants are asked to include a sufficient "international postage coupon" in lieu of stamps.)
- A telephone number or e-mail address where you can be reached.
Applicants should specify a preference for the spring or fall session as well as the amount of time desired - no shorter than two weeks and no longer than two months.
All applicants who include an SASE will be notified of selections by February 1st.
Due to the high volume of applications we are not able to respond to email inquiries regarding receipt of material or acceptance to the program.
Send completed applications to:
Ledig House Applications
Omi, Inc.
55 Fifth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10003
For further information:
Fax: (212) 206-6114
Email: writers@artomi.org
Fellowships & Prizes
Francis Greenburger Fellowship on Mitigating Religious and Ethnic Conflict:
Fellowship only for an artist whose work relates to managing and/or mitigating religious and ethnic conflict. Work made at Omi must be in direct relation to this area.
Prana Studios Award:
Sponsorship for an Indian who currently lives and works in India.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowship for a New Jersey Writer
Each year one New Jersey writer will be selected for a two-month residency to Ledig House. Writers from all genres are encouraged to apply, but must reside in the state of New Jersey. Publication is not required, but is highly suggested. Application materials are the same as those listed under the "Applications" page of this website. The deadline for applications is November 30. Applicants should address envelope to:
Ledig House Applications
*New Jersey Writers' Fellowship
55 Fifth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10003
THE OMI INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES TWENTY-FIVE WRITERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE 2008 SPRING SESSION AT LEDIG HOUSE
The Omi International Arts Center is proud to welcome its spring residents to the Ledig House Writers Residency Program. The session will run from March 14th - June 6th. Our series of public events will kick off in New York City on March 27th at 7pm. Residents will read from their work and participate in a discussion of literature and translation. The event has been arranged through a partnership with the online journal, Words Without Borders, and it will take place in the Housing Works Bookstore located at 126 Crosby Street. We have also scheduled two community readings. The first will take place on April 26th in the Hudson Wine Merchants third floor tasting room at 341 ½ Warren Street from 5-7pm. The residents will read from their work before enjoying a selection of cheeses and wines with all those in attendance. The second community reading will take place on May 17th at the Omi International Arts Center (59 Letter S Road in Ghent). The residents will read from their work at 5PM and there will be a BBQ to follow. All events are free and open to the public.
In the sixteen years since its founding, the Ledig House International Writers' Colony has invited nearly five hundred writers and translators from over fifty countries to Columbia County and opened up a vital cultural byway between the Hudson Valley and the rest of the globe. In the last year alone Ledig House has hosted writers from twenty countries including Australia, Germany, India, Denmark, the U.K., Italy, Romania, Hungary, Guatemala, Iran, Bosnia, and Sweden. Here are some details regarding the incoming group of residents, which include an Icelandic playwright, an Iraqi fiction writer, and a Lithuanian translator - just to name a few:
Ada Arduini (Italy, Translation)
March 14 - April 4
Ada lives in her birthplace of Verona and began translating ten years ago when she realized its importance to a deeper, more special experience of reading. She enjoys translating all fiction with short stories as her preferred form. Her body of work includes translations of Edith Templeton, Stephen Elliott, Maeve Brennan, Colm Tóibín, and Janet Hobhouse among others.
Christine Bredenkamp (Sweden, Fiction)
May 16 - June 6
Born to a Swedish mother and German father, Christine was raised near Stockholm. Her studies included German, Swedish, literature, and translation. She has been working as a translator since 1999. Most notably, she has translated two well-known German authors: Juli Zeh's Spieltrieb (translated for Norstedts in 2006) and Sasa Stanisic's Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert (translated for Norstedts in 2008). During her stay at Ledig House Christine will be working on the Juli Zeh´s latest novel Schilf. She is also a big fan of kickboxing.
photo credit Jerry Bauer
James Cañón (US, Fiction)
April 12 - May 9
James was born, raised and educated in Colombia. He moved to New York to study English and later earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Honors and awards for his writing have come from NYFA, the Henfield Foundation, the Queens Council on the Arts, and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. His stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, and have been anthologized in Bésame Mucho, (Painted Leaf Press), and Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas, (Cleis Press). His debut novel, Tales from the Town of Widows & Chronicles from the Land of Men, has been published in thirteen countries. He lives in Queens, New York.
Mercedes Cebrián (Spain, Fiction/Translation)
March 29 - May 9
Mercedes was born in Madrid and has published two books: El malestar al alcance de todos (Short stories and poems, 2004) and Mercado Común (poems, 2006). Her texts have also been published in newspapers and magazines such as El País, La Vanguardia, Revista de Occidente, Eñe, Diario de Poesía (Argentina), Absinthe (USA) and Passport (University of Arkansas). She was a fellow at the Residencia de Estudiantes (Madrid, 2002-2004) and at the Spanish Academy in Rome (2006-2007). She also translates from English and French.
Rui Cóias (Portugal, Poetry)
May 3 - June 6
Born and raised in Lisbon, Rui studied law at the University of Coimbra, and then returned to the capital where he worked as a lawyer for nine years before suspending the profession. His first book of poems, A Função do Geógrafo (The Function of the Geographer) was published in 2000, and his second, A Ordem do Mundo (The World's Order), in 2005. His work has been translated into English and French; he is also one of the authors mentioned in the Portuguese section of Poetry International Web, integrating several anthologies and collective poetry publications.
Leila Gazale (US, Screenwriting/Playwriting)
May 3 - June 6
Leila is an Arab-American screenwriter and playwright. In 2004, she co-wrote and co-starred in "Live! With Pascale & Chantal," a parody of Lebanese talk shows and culture. The show played to sold-out audiences and was featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice and New York magazine. Leila also contributed as a writer, director and performer to the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley and received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She studied acting at the William Esper Studio.
Jeanine Herman (US, Translation)
March 14 - April 18
Jeanine's translation of Julien Gracq's Reading Writing (Turtle Point Press) was a finalist for the French-American Foundation Translation Prize in 2006. Her translations have appeared in publications such as Artforum magazine and The Paris Review, and she has translated books for Semiotext(e), City Lights, Zone Books, Lukas & Sternberg, and Columbia University Press. She was named chevalier in the French Order of Arts and Letters and has a translation forthcoming from Dalkey Archive Press. She is currently working on Julia Kristeva's Hatred and Forgiveness. She lives in New York City.
Julien Holtrigter (Netherlands, Poetry)
March 14 - April 4
Born in Hilversum, a town near Amsterdam, Julien became a teacher at Rehoboth College in
Utrecht, eventually moving on to become an art teacher. After nearly 40 years in the classroom, he retired in 2007 to dedicate himself to poetry. He now has three published volumes to his credit and his poem "Dichter" won the Amsterdam Free University Stage Prize in 2003. His work has been singled out for its "mysterious lucidity." In addition to his writing, Julien also produces acrylic paintings on canvas. While at Ledig House he will be working on an epic poem.
Denise Leith (Australia, Fiction)
April 11 - June 3
Denise has a Ph.D. in international relations with special interests in US foreign policy, war, human rights, humanitarian action, and Middle East politics. She is on the committee of International PEN, Sydney Centre and an Honorary Associate of Macquarie University in Sydney where she teaches part time. Denise has two published non-fiction books, The Politics of Power: Freeport in Suharto's Indonesia and Bearing Witness: The Lives of War Correspondents and Photojournalists. She is currently completing her first novel titled, Salt Water, while working on a new nonfiction book based on Rwanda titled, A Season to Live. In 2004 Denise shared the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Award for work with refugee writers being held in Australian detention centers.
Ellen Levine (US, Fiction)
March 14 - April 11
Ellen is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Massachusetts, Illinois and California. She is a lapsed public interest lawyer, has taught ESL to immigrant adults and children, and has worked on documentary films for television. She has written twenty books for young people and several for adults, many (both fiction and nonfiction) on issues of social justice and equality.
Helena McEwen (UK, Fiction)
May 10 - June 6
Helena grew up in Scotland and lives in London. She trained as a painter at Camberwell and Chelsea art schools and has mounted several exhibitions of her paintings. Her debut novel, The Big House, was first published in 1999. Her second, Ghost Girl, follows a thirteen-year-old girl to a convent boarding school in the English countryside. It was published by Bloomsbury in June 2004.
photo credit Marion Ettlinger
Sigrid Nunez (US, Fiction)
April 5 - May 2
Sigrid is the author of five novels, including A Feather on the Breath of God, For Rouenna, and The Last of Her Kind. She has been the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award, a Berlin Prize Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters: the Rome Prize and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award. She lives in New York City.
Michael Obert (Germany, Nonfiction)
May 16-June 6
Born in Breisach in the southwest of Germany, Michael has written several books and also works as a journalist for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit, Stern, GEO, Das Magazin, and many other periodicals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. He reports mainly from Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia, and has written several books on the Islamic world. Michael has been called the "German Paul Theroux" by the Frankfurter Rundschau; his work has also been compared to Bruce Chatwin, Jon Krakauer and Redmond O'Hanlon. Michael currently lives in Berlin.
Kristín Ómarsdóttir (Iceland, Fiction/Playwriting)
April 5 - May 2
Born in Reykjavík, Krisitn has published collections of poetry, short stories, novels, and plays. Three of Ómarsdóttir´s novels have been translated and published in Sweden, and one of the novels, T'es pas la seule à être morte, in France. Kristín received Gríman, The Icelandic Playwright Award, in the year 2005, for her play, Segðu mér allt (Tell me everything.)
Jina Ortiz (US, Fiction/Poetry)
March 14 - April 4
Jina's poems have appeared in numerous literary journals including The Caribbean Writer and The Worcester Review. She has received several fellowships and grants including support from VCCA, the Highlights Foundation, and the Worcester Cultural Commission. While a resident at Ledig House, she will be working on her poetry collection, One Hundred Days in Brazil, and revising her middle-grade novel, The Annunciation of Teresa Reyes. Jina lives in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Thachom Poyil Rajeevan (India, Fiction/Poetry)
May 10 - June 6
Born in the southernmost state of Kerala, India, Thachom is a poet, novelist and essayist working in English and Malayalam. His published works include two poetry collections in English, three in Malayalam, and a travelogue and an essay collection in Malayalam. A postgraduate in English Language and Literature, he is the founding editor of Yeti Books, the first English publishing house from the state of Kerala. He serves as the Public Relations Officer for the University of Calicut and Director of Monsoon Editions.
Saulius Repecka (Lithuania, Translation)
April 19 - May 16
Born in Lithuania, Saulius graduated from Vilnius University with a Masters in literary theory, eventually moving on to study at Oxford University. Since 1993 he has contributed to Lithuanian cultural press (critical essays, prose, translations) and translated 14 books from English and French, including the works of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and William Shakespeare. His latest projects include Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida and John Fante's Ask the Dust. Saulius serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Lithuanian Writers' Union Publishers.
Gabriele Riedle (Germany, Fiction)
May 10 - June 6
Born in Stuttgart, Gabriele graduated with degrees in German and Italian literature and linguistics in 1986. Since then she has worked as editor and reporter for numerous nationwide papers and weeklies. Gabriele has published two novels with Aufbau-Verlag and currently lives in Berlin.
Martí Sales I Sariola (Catalonia, Fiction)
Martí was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, in the heart of a family of artists. His mother was an illustrator and his father was a writer. He has been performing since he was 18, participating in drama, rock 'n roll concerts, and recitals. He has lived in Rome and Havana, and he's made several trips throughout the US. Martí is the author of two books; he has also shot one short film and recorded one rock album.
photo credit Sven Paulstian
Claudia Schreiber (Germany, Fiction)
April 20-May 23
Claudia, who lives in Cologne, was born in a village near Kassel. After working as a radio editor and television broadcaster, she became a scriptwriter and author. Her novel Emmas Glück (Emma´s Luck) was translated into eight languages, and was adapted into a 2006 film. Her children's book Sultan und Kotzbrocken (Sultan and Tosspot) was translated into several languages and was adapted into a play. Her last novel Ihr ständiger Begleiter (Her Constant Companion) "probes the cracks within a strict evangelical family."
photo credit P. Dave
Sudeep Sen (India, Poetry)
April 5 - May 9
As an Inlaks Scholar, Sudeep completed an MS from Columbia's School of Journalism. He was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship (UK) and nominated for a Pushcart Prize (USA) for poems included in Postmarked India: New & Selected Poems (HarperCollins). More recently, he has published Prayer Flag, Distracted Geographies, and Rain. Sudeep was an international poet-in-residence at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and most recently, the Dutch Foundation for Literature's 'International Writer-in-Residence' in Amsterdam. He is the editor of Atlas and editorial director of AARK ARTS. His new work appears in New Writing 15 (Granta, 2007), and the Norton world poetry anthology, Language for a New Century (W W Norton, 2008). More information available at www.sudeepsen.net.
Samuel Shimon (Iraq, Fiction/Poetry)
April 18 - May 16
Samuel was born into an Assyrian family in Al-Habbaniyah. He left Iraq in 1979 to go to Hollywood and become a filmmaker, getting as far as Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Nicosia, Cairo, Tunis, and Paris. In 1996 he moved to London where he co-founded Banipal, a magazine for which he still serves as Assistant Editor. He has published two collections of poetry in Arabic. In 2005 his autobiographical novel, An Iraqi in Paris, was published in Arabic with translations in English, Swedish and French. He is the founding editor of the literary Arabic website www.kikah.com.
Mikhail Shishkin (Russia, Fiction)
March 14 - April 11
Born in Moscow, Mikhail studied German and has worked as journalist, teacher, and translator. Since 1995 he has made his home in Switzerland working as a freelance writer. His fiction has been widely published in several languages including Russian, German, French, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Chech, Bulgarian, and Chinese.
Buket Uzuner (Turkey, Fiction)
March 14-April 25
Born in Turkey, Buket has written short stories, travelogues and novels. She studied and worked at universities in Turkey, Norway, Finland and the US. Her novels are translated into seven languages including Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Romanian and Italian. She participated in the University of Iowa international writing program in 1996. She has travelled and lived in North Africa, North America and Europe. Buket is also trained as a biologist and environmental scientist. She lives in Istanbul with her son.
Lara Vapnyar (Russia/US, Fiction)
April 5-April 18
Lara Vapnyar (Russia/US, Fiction) April 5-April 18
Lara emigrated from Russia to New York in 1994. She is the author of a novel, Memoirs of a Muse, and short stories collections, There Are Jews in My House and Broccoli And Other Tales of Food And Love (coming out in June). Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Zoetrope and Vogue.
For information please call 518-392-4568 ex. 100
Ledig House
Guest Speaker Program
The Guest Speaker Program brings Ledig House residents together with literary agents, editors, and publishers in an informal setting. The guest series provides the opportunity for frank discussion on subjects such as the future of world literature in the marketplace. Moreover it fosters connections between authors and the industry which supports, and is supported, by them.
Past Guest Speakers
Alex Abromovich, Managing Editor, Feed Magazine
Lisa Bankoff, Agent, I.C.M.
Sara Bershtel, Editor, Metropolitan Books
Jennifer Carlson, Agent, Henry Dunow
Judy Clain, Editor, Little, Brown & Co.
Chandler Crawford, Agent, Chandler Crawford Literary Agency, Inc.
Jessica Dineen, Editor, The New England Review
Barbara Epler, Editor-in-Chief, New Directions Press
Ariane Fink, Scout, Sanford J. Greenburger & Assoc.
Gary Fisketjon, Senior Editor, Knopf
Warren Frazier, Agent, John Hawkins & Associates
Carol Frederick, Scout, Sanford J. Greenburger & Assoc.
Sally Woffrod Girand, Brick House Literary Agents
Karin Graf, Agent and founder, Graf & Graf
Nikolaus Hansen, Editor-in-Chief, Mare Buch
Marcel Hartages, Editor, Rowohlt Verlag
Stefania Heim, Circumference magazine
John Hodgman, Agent, Writers House
Amy Holman, Director, Poets & Writers
Violaine Huisman, (Seven Stories)
Tim Jung, Marebuch Verlag
Beena Kamlani, Senior Editor, Viking/Penguin
Jennifer Kronovet, Circumference magazine
Sean McDonald, Editor, Riverhead
Albert Mobilio, (Bookforum)
Ethan Nosowsky, Editor, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Barbara Perlmutter, Scout, Fischer Velag
Nina Ryan, Agent, Coles-Ryan Literary Agency
Samantha Schnee, Words Without Borders
Jill Schoolman, (Archipelago)
Heather Schroeder, Agent, International Creative Management
Susan Schulman, Founder and Agent, Susan Schulman A Literary Agency
Bettina Schwebe, Scout for numerous foreign publishers
Ira Silverberg, Agent, Donadio & Olson, Inc.
Daniel Slager, (Harcourt)
Paul Slovak, Editor, Viking/Penguin
Lorin Stein, (FSG)
Nan Talese, Pubisher, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday
Peter Terzian, (Newsday)
Deborah Treisman, Fiction Editor, The New Yorker
Ann Triestman, Editor, William Morrow
Jessica Wayneright, Agent, The Wayneright Agency
Lauren Wein, Editor, Grove Atlantic
Svante Weyler, Editor-in-Chief, Norstedts Forlag
Drenka Willen, (Harcourt)
Amy Williams, Collins & McCormick
Sponsors
Ledig House's sponsorship program provides foundations, corporations, and individuals the opportunity to aid the world's most talented writers and translators with the gift of a fellowship. Depending on the donor's wishes, fellowships can be tailored to different disciplines--fiction, non-fiction, or translation--as well as to different regions of the world. Memorial and honorary fellowships are also available.
The Endowment Program
Ongoing endowments can also be created to insure annual support for Ledig House writers. Large, one-time donations are made to Ledig House and invested in a money market account, the interest of which defrays the cost of a fellowship each year. Endowments can be set up anonymously or carry the name of the benefactor.
For more information on how to sponsor a writer at Ledig House, please contact:
Ledig House, Omi International Arts Center
55 Fifth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10003
212-206-6060
Ledig House is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization.
All donations are tax-deductible.
Board of Directors
Advisors
Sponsors
Executive Director
D. W. Gibson
Board of Directors
Esther Allen
Sara Bershtel
Dorthe Binkert
Dominique Bourgois
Bill Clegg
Chandler Crawford
Kate Darling
Nicholas Ellison
Barbara Epler
Inge Feltrinelli
Alexander Fest
Ariane Fink
Gary Fisketjon
Carol Frederick
Helmut Frielinghaus
Karin Graf
Francis Greenburger
Nikolaus Hansen
Hans Georg Heepe
Beena Kamlani
David Knowles
Sigrid Kraus
Antje Landshoff
Jeffrey Lependorf
Carol Mann
Michael Naumann
Viktor Niemann
Daniel Slager
Barbara Tolley
Betsy von Furstenberg Reynolds
Svante Weyler
Sally Wofford-Girand
Advisory Committee
Edward J. Acton
T.D. Allman
Anna Bourgeois
Oliver Bourgeois
George Cockcroft
Fred Jordan
Chris Loken
Jack Macrae
Emily Mann
Nenad Popovich
Ulla Rowohlt
Sir George Weidenfeld
Sponsors
Australian Cultural Council
Danish Literature and Information Center
Finish Literature Exchange
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Indiana University
Institute for Portuguese Books and Libraries
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
Piper Verlag
Prana Studios
ProHelvetia
H.M. Ledig Rowohlt Foundation
Rowohlt Verlag
Royal Literary Fund
Alfa Publishers
Ledig House is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
Endowments
The Robert Buchbinder Fellowship
The Diane Cleaver Fellowship
Ledig Rowohlt Fellowship
The Jack Weprin Fellowship
Sponsors - Thank You
Ledig House expresses its gratitude to all of the sponsors for their support.
