Applications for this residency have now closed. Please see our current opportunities here.

Are you a children’s writer or book illustrator? Would you like to explore how to tell the story of a city in a picture book? Stories of Cities, Cities of Stories.

NCW and Jakarta UNESCO City of Literature are offering a virtual residency exchange in April-May 2023 for children’s writers and illustrators to reflect on their own creative practice and learn more about the ecosystem for children’s books in each city.

The virtual residency exchange will be between:

• One children’s writer and one children’s book illustrator from Jakarta
• One children’s writer and one children’s book illustrator from Norwich

About the residency exchange

The writers and illustrators will be asked to act as a guide to their city for the other writers and illustrators, sharing ideas and inspiration.

In April and May 2023, you will meet once a fortnight on zoom for a 90-minute meeting to share ideas and approaches, as well as work in progress for feedback from each other. We will also invite guest speakers – children’s librarians, children’s publishers and children’s booksellers – from Norwich and Jakarta to tell you about their work. In between meetings, you will have time for research, writing, editing and illustrating.

At the end of the residency, the two writers will be asked to submit a short text of up to 1,000 words and the two illustrators an illustration. All the commissions will be translated into either English or Indonesian and published on the Norwich and Jakarta UNESCO cities of literature websites. In June 2023, the writers and illustrators in virtual residence will take part in an online event, to be broadcast in both cities.

You will each receive a fee for your involvement in the residency. The language of the residency exchange will be English, with informal interpretation into and from Bahasa Indonesia.

How to apply

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send an application that includes the following information:

• Your ideas for telling the story of a city in your work.
• What you will bring to this virtual residency exchange and what you hope to get out of it.
• Your connections with Norwich or Jakarta UNESCO City of Literature.
• Your CV, including publication record.

Please send your application to [email protected] (Norwich writers and illustrators).

The deadline for applications is Sunday 12 March 2023.

Supported by the International Literature Showcase Collaboration Fund. The International Literature Showcase is a partnership between the National Centre for Writing and British Council.