'Connect and Collaborate' residencies at Moniack Mhor Writers' Centre near Beauly aim to encourage cross-cultural pollination

Moniack Mhor Writers' Centre is offering a month-long Connect and Collaborate residency opportunity to 10 mid-career international writers and Scottish peers.

Six places will go to international writers who live outside of the UK, and three places will go to UK-based Scottish writers. There is a further one place available for an international literary translator.

This fully funded residency programme at the base, near Kiltarlity, is supported by the British Council and Creative Scotland.

Successful applicants will be given time and space to develop their work, whilst expanding their professional practice through the cross-pollination of ideas between cultures. As part of the residency in March 2022, the writers will go on tour, reading together for Highland communities and Scottish literary festivals. This will bring a unique opportunity for audiences to hear from some of the finest writers from across the globe.

An additional element to the residency will be the opportunity for three of the selected writers to attend a funded residency in Lagos, Nigeria, later in the year, where they will participate in the Lagos International Poetry Festival.

Founder and director of the Lagos Festival, Efe Paul Azino, will be joining the Connect and Collaborate Residency selection panel.

Efe, one of Nigeria’s best known performance artists and poets, attended a month-long international poetry residency at Moniack Mhor in 2019. During his residency he performed at StAnza Poetry Festival in St. Andrews, as well as at events in Skye and Ullapool. He has since gone on to host some of the writers he met in Scotland. The 2022 Connect and Collaborate programme will continue that work, supporting meaningful connections for writers across cultural communities.

Efe said: “International cultural exchanges are central to our work with the Lagos International Poetry Festival. We are happy to connect writers and poets and artists from across universes of experience and are delighted to be working with Moniack Mhor on this. Having the space to create, travel through Scotland, engage new audiences, and make some lasting connections with Scottish writers and poets, was an invaluable experience for me as international resident in 2019. We look forward to the collaborations and tours, within Scotland and Lagos, and the richness of artistic perspectives and practice this more expansive cycle of the International Residency programme provides.”

The centre is also asking for applications from international literary translators who wish to immerse themselves in Scottish literature. The translator will receive a programme of meetings and showcases, exposing them to contemporary Scottish writers with the potential to pitch to international publishers for rights buying and translation.

Rachel Humphries, centre director at Moniack Mhor, said: “This is one of the most exciting international projects we have ever been involved in. It’s a reciprocal exchange from start to finish, with writers benefiting from time and space to progress their work, to meaningful cultural exchange, culminating in fresh, international voices touring our Highland communities. Our plan us to bring these events to local audiences along with Highland based musicians whose work compliments that of the writers, making for rich, sensory, multicultural experiences. I would urge any Scottish writer to seize this amazing opportunity.”

For information on eligibility and to apply, visit www.moniackmhor.org.uk.

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