Following three successful residencies with writers Jan Carson, Alice Ash and Heather Parry, Open Book is looking for a new Writer in Residence as part of itsongoing Unbound project. The residency will run from January – September 2022 and include 9 texts (one a month, 500-1000 words in length), to be included in the monthly Unbound newsletter, as well as a single community engagement session in a format to be agreed. The fee for the Writer in Residence post is £1000.
Applicants should familiarise themselves with our previous Unbound newsletters and the work of our previous Writers in Residence. Details here https://openbookreading.com/unbound/.
The contributions will be read by recipients of Unbound, may be used as materials for our shared reading and shared reading+creative writing groups and may form the subject of a monthly podcast recorded by Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi. Readers have described Unbound as a “cave to escape into” and an “oasis”, so we are not looking for dark or otherwise troubling work.
Each issue of Unbound centres on a theme, which will be provided to the Writer in Residence well in advance.
Applications for this post are sought by 5pm on Friday 22 October 2021. The successful applicant will be notified the following week with the first contribution due on 1 December 2021.
How to apply
Please send a short email noting the kind of writing you’d like to produce for the nine contributions, plus a short sample of your writing (approx 500 words) to admin@openbookreading.com.
Terms and conditions
- Applicants may be asked to interview on Zoom.
- The successful applicant will be notified by email. Open Book will also announce the selection through its social media channels and website.
- While copyright will be retained by the writer, Open Book will require a copyright licence to reproduce the pieces including but not limited to use them in the Open Book Unbound newsletter, with our online and in person groups, and in podcasts produced by Open Book for two calendar years from publication. Open Book may produce a CD/DVD of any podcast featuring the work for distribution as part of Open Book’s Prison Programme and the writer will consent to the use of their work for this purpose.
- Payment will be made in two tranches, 50% on receipt of the first contribution and an invoice with the final 50% on delivery of the final piece (with an invoice).
Supported by Creative Scotland.
