Ledig House International Writers ResidencyAbout
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.
Listen to Australian writer Lee Tulloch's radio interview, conducted live from Ledig House on May 5, 2009.
It was originally broadcast on the ABC Book Show: Lee Tulloch interview from Ledig House.
Application Guidelines 2011
Spring: mid-March to early June
Fall: early September to late November
The annual deadline for applications must be postmarked by November 20, 2010. Late applications will be held and considered the succeeding year.
Please include the following materials: A complete application form.
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 If unpublished, send a ten page sample of your latest work.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.)
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
Art Omi, Inc.
55 Fifth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10003
For further information:
Fax: 212 206 6027
Email Writers
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.
Ledig House is proud to partner with Addis Neger, Ethiopa’s biggest newspaper, to guarantee an annual residency for an African writer through the Addis Neger Fellowship. Each year the fellowship will be awarded to two writers who work in their local languages; one writer will be from Ethiopia and one will be from another African nation. The selected individuals will receive travel funds as well as a small stipend for incidental expenses. Interested applicants should follow the posted application guidelines and be sure to include a cover letter stating that the Addis Neger fellowship is sought. The fellowship is open to writers from all disciplines, working in all languages.
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.
Sponsors
Australian Cultural Council
Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature
Danish Literature and Information Center
Dutch Foundation for Literature
Greenburger Fellowship
Indiana University
Institute for Portuguese Books and Libraries
Ramon Llull Institut
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
Piper Verlag
ProHelvetia
H.M. Ledig Rowohlt Foundation
Rowohlt Verlag
Royal Literary Fund
Turkish Copyright Office
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
Ledig House is a proud member of the
freeDimensional Network
www.freedimensional.org
Ledig House is proud to partner with the Dutch Foundation for Literature in a residency exchange program. For more information about the Dutch Foundation for Literature, please visit: http://www.fondsvoordeletteren.nl
Ledig House is proud to form a exchange partnership with Het beschrijf in Belgium. In this exchange, Het Beschrijf will work to bring a Belgian writer to Ledig House and Ledig House will work to bring an American writer to Het Beschrijf's residency program, Passa Porta.
The literary organisation Het beschrijf in Brussels has been a builder of bridges since its inception in 1998 - between different languages and literatures, literature and society, and literature and the other arts.
In 2004 Het beschrijf launched two new initiatives: the Passa Porta International House of Literature in the heart of Brussels, and a prestigious residency program for writers. Guest writers are able to choose to stay in the centre of the city or in the rural countryside of Brussels. The length of the stay varies between 4 and 8 weeks. Since 2004 Het beschrijf has welcomed some 80 writers from all over the world.
More information on the residence program on www.residencesinflanders.be
