Cove Park is a Scottish artists’ retreat located on the Rosneath peninsula, an hour’s drive west of Glasgow. In 2017 Cove Park is offering five funded literature residencies. Applications are open writers around the world.
Cove Park was founded in 1999 by Peter and Eileen Jacobs. The centre’s residencies “respond to the diversity of contemporary artistic practice in all the art forms, whether performing or visual arts, crafts, literature or music. [Its] interdisciplinary programmes, for both individuals and collaborating groups, offer time, space and freedom to make new work and to find new ways of working.”
Cove Park’s distinguished alumni include Margaret Atwood, Anne Carson, Brian Chikwava, Helen Cross, Rachel Cusk, Fred D’Aguiar, Joe Dunthorne, Jennie Erdal, Rodge Glass, John Glenday, Jen Hadfield, Jack Mapanje, Michael Pedersen, Jo Shapcott, Zoe Strachan, Chiew-Siah Tei, Kate Tough, Christos Tsiolkas, Chika Unigwe, Louise Welsh and Nicola White.
The three main 2017 literature residencies will take place between May and September and applications are open to writers around the world. These residencies last for between one and three months and, to be eligible, writers should have published at least one book. Applications are invited from writers who works across the genres of short and long fiction, memoir, poetry, biography. Writers who cross or combine these genres are also welcome to apply as are writers who are established in one genre and wish to develop or experiment in another.
New in 2017 is the opportunity for an emerging writer from the UK to spend three weeks at Cove Park working in parallel with early career artists specialising in craft/design and visual arts. This residency will run from Monday 4 – Monday 23 September 2017.
Cove Park will also offer a fifth residency of up to one month for an emerging writer from Scotland. Applicants for this residency need not have published a full length book, but must be able to show exceptional promise.
Writers will be selected for interview based on the following criteria:
- The quality of your ideas and work.
- Your need for a period of research and development and your reasons for applying to this residency program.
- Your interest in working within a community of artists.
There are no application fees for their residency. Residents receive a £400 (US$500) fee per week in addition to the use of Cove Park’s facilities include self-catering accommodation, a communal meeting space, library, archive, computer suite and a stunning 50-acre site.
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This short documentary was filmed at Cove Park during summer 2010 and features Christos Tsiolkas, Luke Fowler, Deirdre Nelson, Frances Priest and Janice Parker discussing their residencies.———————————————————–
Writers must include in their application a two-page introductory statement about their work and their reasons for applying for the residency, a current CV and a 3000 word writing sample. For full details download the 2017 Application Guidelines (PDF).
Applications for Cove Park’s 2017 literature residencies close on 9 December 2016. For further information visit the Cove Park website.
Writers who don’t meet the application requirements can still stay at Cove Park. Accommodation and studio space is available for hire between September and April by individuals with a creative project. A single cube (the self catering individual live/work spaces) costs £60 per night with a two night minimum; double and group rates are also available.
For more news about other writers’ residencies follow Aerogramme Writers’ Studio on Facebook and Twitter.
Image via Cove Park.