UPDATE: Writing a New Future
Urban Development through Literature
UPDATE: Now is your chance to win a new house, see below!
Homesteading Detroit:
Applications Open for the Writing Residency of a Lifetime
Today, Write A House opened the application process for its inaugural writers residency, which will award an individual a home in Detroit to keep, forever. Talented writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are invited to apply online here.
By renovating vacant homes in a diverse Detroit neighborhood, in partnership with Young Detroit Builders, Write A House is building the literary arts in Detroit, supporting skilled writers, providing vocational education for youth, and stabilizing neighborhoods.
Applications for the first Write A House residency may be submitted online between May 15 2014 and June 21, 2014. There is no application fee. Writing quality is the most important part of the application, but judges will also look for the ability of applicants to contribute to the neighborhood and the wider literary culture of Detroit.
Eligible applicants must be low- or moderate-income writers with some history of publication. They must also be U.S. citizens and age 18 or over. Details about the application process and the Write A House program can be found at www.writeahouse.org/apply.
Write A House is grateful to work with accomplished writers who are serving as judges: Toby Barlow, Billy Collins, Sarah F. Cox, dream hampton, Major Jackson, and Sean MacDonald.
A shortlist of 10 finalists will be announced in August 2014. The winner of the first Write A House residency will be announced in September 2014. Later this month, Write A House, along with Young Detroit Builders, will break ground on renovations of the house first to be awarded.
Young Detroit Builders is a YouthBuild USA-affiliated nonprofit organization that has been offering education, support services, counseling, leadership development, job and life skills preparation, on-the-job residential construction training and NCCER certification since 1996.Young Detroit Builders are 18-24 year old students working towards their GED while earning a modest living allowance and participating in this full-time, 10-month training program.
Interested writers and non-writers alike are invited to stay updated on the process by following Write A House on Facebook and Twitter.
Supporters can also help this groundbreaking project become a success by making a donation to Write A House here.
Can you really rehab a home and redevelop a community with just a pen and paper?
Apparently so in Detroit.
I recently ran across the organizers of a program and partnership that is rebuilding a neighborhood one house and one writer at a time. The concept is simple; host a writing contest where authors from around the world can submit their stories. The winning story claims a refurbished house right in the city of Detroit.
The Detroit News shared the concept in a recent article:
“The basic idea: Three homes are being renovated and will be given to “low-income” writers. Writers of all stripes are eligible, including novelists, poets, playwrights and journalists. The group will begin accepting applications in the spring. Metro Detroit writers can also apply.
“If you write and can prove it, you have a chance,” said Anna Clark, local freelance journalist and a board member.
Writers who are selected will get a house that’s about 1,000 square feet with two bedrooms. The roof and plumbing will function. Writers should be ready to paint and help with other finishing touches.
They’ll have plenty of time. Writers selected must promise to stay for two years, and after that they may be given the deed. In the meantime, they’ll be introduced to the Metro Detroit literary community, asked to contribute to a literary journal and participate in the occasional reading. Writers will be responsible for covering insurance and taxes, which organizers estimate will average less than $500 a month.”
Who would have thought to use writing as a tool for urban renewal?
So, my writer friends from around the world, sharpen your pencils, get out your pens and power up those laptops. You could become the next, great literary titan while bringing a great city back to life.
