Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Local writers awarded Krakow City of Literature residency

Two Australian authors, one New Zealand author and another from the UK have been awarded a two-month residency in Krakow, Poland as part of a Cities of Literature program.

Melbourne Author Koraly Dimitriadis will visit Krakow in June. She has published two poetry books, Just Give Me The Pills and Love and F—k Poems (both Outside the Box Press), which form the basis of her play I say the wrong things all the time. At the residency she will be working on her debut novel Divided Island, which is ‘a love story set in Melbourne and Cyprus and explores how our upbringing affects who we love and how we love’.

Dimitriadis told Books+Publishing, ‘Although I was born in Australia, I have always felt that my soul belongs in Cyprus, my parents’ homeland. This ache for the homeland, and the nostalgia our parents have for their homelandwhich they can pass onto their childrenis something I am wanting to capture in my novel.’

Also from Melbourne, Nadia Bailey has written three nonfiction books on popular culture, published by Smith Street Books. Last year Bailey was selected for a Midsumma Future’s Fellowship for emerging queer artists, where she developed a work of historical fiction under the mentorship of Hannah Kent.

‘My novel is concerned with the period of upheaval and mourning that followed the World War I, and the fringe religions that flourished in its wake,’ said Bailey, who hopes to research Poland’s history in Krakow’s libraries. Bailey will travel to Krakow in September.

Dunedin author Liz Breslin writes plays, poems, stories and the fortnightly column ‘Thinking Allowed’ for the Otago Daily Times. She is the author of poetry collection Alzheimer’s and a Spoon (Otago University Press). Breslin told Books+Publishing she will use the residency to conduct research for a series of spoken word essays ‘incorporating the Krakow legend of the “hejnał mariacki”a trumpet piece played publicly from a tall tower in four directions every day’.

Nottingham publisher and author Georgina Wilding will also attend the residency.

The Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Residency Program is dedicated to writers from the Cities of Literature of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. It aims to provide writers with a platform to showcase their work and talent to a Central European audience, support greater diversity of voices and literatures on the Polish and Central European book market, and offers networking between local and international writers.

 

Tags:

Category: Local news