The Sangam House Writer’s Residency Program in the winter of 2008 is the inaugural undertaking of what will become an on-going annual program in Arts and Letters located in India. Sangam House will invite approximately 20 writers to live and work on the Adishakti property outside Pondicherry, on the east coast of southern India. Lodging (single rooms) and food will be provided free of charge. Each writer is responsible for travel costs to and from Pondicherry. However, travel funds and bursaries are available through various cultural organizations.

Residencies are structured in 1-3 month intervals, determined by individual needs. We recommend a residence period of no less than 2 weeks for each writer.
Of the twenty invited writers, ten will come from the South Asian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and ten from other countries around the world.

Sangam House is open to writers in all languages.

Sangam House seeks to give writers (and we include here translators, poets, playwrights and those involved in creating fiction and non-fiction works) a chance to build a substantial and influential network of personal and professional relationships that can deepen their own work, in effect, expanding and diversifying literature.

The following organisations are partners in the program:

Danish Council for the Arts
Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI)
Random House India
Penguin India
freeDimensional
Neemrana Hotels
Lavanya Sankaran
The Centre for Communication and Development Studies
Sahitya Akademi (The Indian National Academy for Letters)

The first winter session will run for approximately three months from mid-November 2008 to mid-February 2009.

Residents are selected through an application process. Any interested writer will be asked to submit the following three items:

1. Two letters of nomination. These should be provided by a publishing or writing professional. Writing and publishing professionals are defined as: publishers, published writers, published translators, professors, editors, and literary agents.

2. One non-returnable copy of a previously published book. If the writer has not yet published a book, a 25 page work sample should be submitted. The book or work sample can be submitted in the writer’s native language, English, or both.

3. One page statement describing the work to be undertaken while at Sangam House.
All applications should include a cover letter with desired length of stay and contact information so that selected writers can be notified in a timely fashion.

Deadline: July 31, 2008 (All materials must be post-marked by this date.)

All South Asian subcontinent writers should submit to:

Arshia Sattar

3 Sharan Apartments

1 High Street

Cooke Town

Bangalore 560 005

All writers not from the subcontinent should submit to:

DW Gibson

504 Grand Street, #H63

New York, NY 10002

USA

All questions and inquiries from the South Asian subcontinent should be directed to:

Arshia Sattar at arshia.sangam@gmail.com.

All questions and inquires from non-subcontinent writers should be directed to:

DW Gibson at dwmgibson@yahoo.com.