Deadline: April 15th, annually

The Island Institute’s Writers’ Residencies provide opportunities for four writers to each spend a month in Sitka, Alaska, pursuing their own work while getting to know this unique island community in the forested coastal mountains of Southeast Alaska. Residents’ time is largely their own, but each person is expected to take part in five community activities. Two public readings frame each residency—one at the beginning and one at the end. Other activities might include a writing workshop; community discussions; visits to schools; or extended radio interviews.

Each resident is provided living accommodations (including a kitchen) and a stipend of $75/week toward food costs. Travel to and from Sitka, as well as all other incidental costs, are the responsibility of the resident.

There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year and January and April of the following year. The November position each year is reserved for an international writer who comes to Sitka from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

The program aims to encourage the work of both promising and published writers who share the interests of The Island Institute – the nature of vital communities, the social and ethical web of human relationships and connections to the natural world, the global effort to shape sustainable human cultures. In return, we believe that the gift of Sitka’s spectacular landscape and the congenial character of the community are likely, in inestimable ways, to inform the residents’ work.

Visit islandinstitutealaska.org for more information and to download an application.

Testimony about the program:

“A gift of uninterrupted working time is immeasurably valuable to any creative endeavor. There are three ways, however, in which The Island Institute’s gift differs from other residency programs-

. . . the astonishing landscape of the southeast Alaska panhandle

. . . the community involvement which the Institute fosters

. . . the interdisciplinary nature of the residency program.”

Alison Deming, English Department, University of Arizona