Scottish Book Trust is delighted to announce that the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship
for published writers is now open for applications. Scotland-based
novelists, poets, children’s writers, dramatists and screen writers who
would benefit from time away from their usual environment to develop
their work are encouraged to apply.
The Fellowship was initiated in 1994 by Franki Fewkes, a Scottish RLS enthusiast then living in France, and is supported by Creative Scotland.
It provides residencies for four fellows for one month each, in a
self-catering studio apartment at the Hôtel Chevillon International Arts
Centre at Grez-sur-Loing. Travel and accommodation are paid for, and
there is a grant of £300 per week to cover living expenses. The
residencies will take place in June, July, August and November 2015.
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| Grez-Sur-Loing....a tough gig |
Grez-sur-Loing
is situated at the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau, France, and was
chosen because of its connections with Robert Louis Stevenson who first
visited in 1875. It was there, at the Hôtel Chevillon, that he met his
future wife Fanny Osbourne. Stevenson found both the place, and its well
established community of writers and artists, highly attractive and he
returned to Grez-sur-Loing for three successive summers.
Author Lisa Ballantyne, a 2014 Fellow, found the experience hugely valuable in terms of her writing development:
“The
month's residency that I spent in Grez-sur-Loing was a wonderful chance
to focus on my new novel and complete my last in the midst of stunning
natural scenery and in an area of France steeped in creative history.
The Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship and residency was of great use in
developing my writing.”
Jenny Niven, Portfolio Manager Literature, Publishing and Languages, at Creative Scotland, said:
“Time
and again the case is being made by writers that support for them to
immerse themselves in their practice, particularly in challenging
financial times for artists, is absolutely critical. We’re delighted to
support the RLS Fellowship to offer the chance for writers to do just
that. International opportunities are of course highly valuable too; an
outward looking perspective – even if the result is a greater
understanding of one’s self – or as John Muir put it, that going out ‘is
really going in’ – can bring a whole new dimension to a writer’s work.
Finally, as illustrated by writers from Stevenson himself, to Muriel
Spark to Alistair Reid, travel has long been an integral part of the
practice of Scottish writers; the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship
seeks to offer that potential to contemporary writers that they might
achieve similar extraordinary things.”
For details of how to apply for the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, and for full eligibility criteria, please visit http://www.scottishbooktrust.
Five reasons to go on a writing retreat:
- Escape the demands of everyday life
- Refresh your creativity with new experiences and new scenery
- Meet other writers and exchange ideas
- Remind yourself why you started writing in the first place
- Renew your enthusiasm for the art and process of writing
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