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Call for applications to Heaney-Miłosz Residency 2025

The Heaney-Miłosz Residency, a writer-in-residence programme celebrating the friendship between Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Czesław Miłosz, is now open for applications.

The Heaney-Miłosz Residency offers the chance for an emerging or mid-career writer, resident on the island of Ireland, to spend up to six weeks next year in the city of Krakow, Poland. Following a competitive selection process, the selected writer will stay in the former apartment of Polish poet and writer Czesław Miłosz.

First launched in 2022, the Residency is a partnership between the Estate of Seamus Heaney, the Krakow Festival Office (KBF), and the Irish Embassy in Poland. Further details on the application process can be found here: https://krakowcityofliterature.com/call-for-applications-seamus-heaney-czeslaw-milosz-writer-in-residence-programme/(Deadline for application is Monday 21 October).

Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin TD, said:

“The Heaney-Milosz Residency honours the legacy of two Nobel Laureates, and is a powerful symbol of the ties between Irish and Polish literature, poetry and culture.

“Following a successful first Residency by the poet Alice Lyons in 2023, we hope that the 2025 Residency will be an equally valuable and enriching experience for an Irish writer.”

Catherine Heaney, of the Estate of Seamus Heaney, said:

“Poland - and the city of Krakow in particular - held an important place in my father’s affections and imagination, especially as the home of his friend and poetic mentor, Czesław Miłosz. The opportunity to celebrate their friendship and, at the same time, provide a writer with the creative space to pursue their own work, is something that Dad would have been extremely proud of.”

Carolina Pietyra, Director of KBF, the operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme said:

“Krakow, a UNESCO city of literature since 2013, has long been a cultural and intellectual centre. We gain so much from its rich heritage. In 1994, Czesław Miłosz chose this place as his home for the last decade of his life. Now, we are happy to have turned his house into a creative and peaceful space for writers, in order to build bridges between the past and the present.”

Commencing in October 2025, the residency will provide a chosen writer with the space and time to develop their work in the beautiful surroundings of Krakow city.

During the residency period, the writer will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of events and meetings with representatives of the creative and literary community in Krakow. At the end of the residency, the writer will provide a written reflection on their experience in Krakow.

ENDS

Press Office

9 September 2024

Notes to editors:

  • As the first writer-in-residence of the Heaney-Milosz Residency, Alice Lyons spent six weeks in the former apartment of Czesław Miłosz in Krakow city centre in October-November 2023. Alice Lyons is an Irish writer, originally from the USA, who has lived in the west of Ireland for over 20 years. Author of three books of poetry and one novel, she is the recipient of several awards both in Ireland and the USA for her work.
  • Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, Czesław Miłosz is one of Poland's most outstanding writers. Described by Seamus Heaney as a "veteran of turmoil", Miłosz personally experienced the devastation of war and occupation in Central and Eastern Europe. These experiences, as well as his Polish-Lithuanian heritage, shaped his writing.
  • Seamus Heaney is one of the most respected and internationally acclaimed figures in Irish literature. He authored over 20 volumes of poetry and criticism, and edited several widely used anthologies. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.
  • Seamus Heaney visited Krakow seven times, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2005 at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. His sonnet 'When All the Others Were Away at Mass' was chosen by the Irish public as Ireland's favourite poem of the past 100 years.
  • It was in Krakow that Miłosz and Heaney strengthened their friendship. The works of both authors grow out of difficult experiences of conflict and adversity, and they are also linked by a commitment to dignity and human rights.
  • Full details in relation to the Heaney-Miłosz Residency are available at https://krakowcityofliterature.com/call-for-applications-seamus-heaney-czeslaw-milosz-writer-in-residence-programme/. The Call for Applications is open until 17.00 (Irish time), Monday 21 October. Queries in relation to the application process can be directed to contact@literaryresidenciespoland.pl
  • Applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Board comprised of three Irish members and three Polish members, each representing literary and cultural organisations in Ireland and Poland respectively.