The second Max Margles Writing Residency in Dublin, Ireland, is now open for applications!
The deadline to apply is 5:00pm, January 18, 2023.
About the Max Margles Writing Residency
In August 2022, after a two-year pandemic delay, we were delighted to finally be able to send the first-ever Max Margles Writer in Residence, Tracey Waddleton, to Dublin, Ireland. We’re now equally delighted to announce that applications are open for the 2023 Max Margles Writing Residency!
In August 2023, an English-language fiction writer from Quebec will spend one month in Dublin, Ireland, for the second Max Margles Writing Residency.
The successful applicant will spend four weeks in a self-contained artists’ apartment in the centre of the vibrant Temple Bar area of Dublin.
The aim of the residency is to provide time and space for a Quebec writer to reflect, research, and write as they need.
The Residency includes:
- Round trip flights from Montreal, Quebec, to Dublin, Ireland
- Accommodation in a self-contained artists’ apartment (in partnership with Dublin City Council Arts Office)
- A stipend of $2,300 CAD for the writer
- Living expenses ($55 per day)
- Travel and medical insurance
The writer will be expected to deliver one public activity with the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin (a workshop, master class, round table, reading etc.), which will be organized in advance. The successful applicant will be asked to write one short blog post during their residency for publication on the QWF website.
The Quebec Writers’ Federation is delighted to partner with the Irish Writers Centre, University College Dublin, MoLI (Museum of Literary Ireland), and Dublin City Council for this project.
“When I arrived in Dublin for the Max Margles Residency, I had in my possession what you might refer to as large swaths of novel, the majority of which had been pulled into a patchwork document that had little form. It was a haphazard union of hundreds of Word files that had accumulated from years of dreaming the project. Wanting to keep myself in the flow, I had written and written without any kind of organization, saving various ideas and bits of story in folders to be read later, and when I did go back to read them sometime in the midst of the pandemic, I discovered I’d written the same scene sometimes three and four times, often years apart. It felt monumental to unravel. But there was new stuff to be written, too…”
Tracey Waddleton, Max Margles Writer in residence 2022
Timetable
- Applications open: 10am, Wednesday, December 14, 2022
- Application deadline: 5pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2023
- Announcement of successful participant: end of March 2023
- Residency begins in Dublin, Ireland: start of August 2023
- Residency ends in Dublin, Ireland: end of August 2023
- Debrief: September 2023
Eligibility and Criteria
In 2023, the Max Margles Writing Residency will be offered to a writer of prose fiction, resident in Quebec, with a writing practice primarily in English.
No history of publication is required. Candidates will be considered on the strength of their applications and evidence that the residency will be of particular benefit to the writer at this time in their career. There is no fee to apply for the residency, although applicants must be QWF members in good standing.
The successful candidate must:
- Be at least 21 years old on the day of the application deadline (Wednesday, January 18, 2022)
- Be a QWF member in good standing at the time of application. For details on how to become a QWF member, visit https://qwf.org/activity/membership/. If you face financial barriers or have any other questions about becoming a QWF member, please contact Riley Palanca, Membership Services Coordinator, at riley@qwf.org
- Have a residence in Quebec and have had a residence in Quebec for at least 12 months before the application deadline. A person who has been living outside of Quebec continuously for the past five years will be considered ineligible
- Be able to travel freely to and from Canada and Ireland, and is responsible for their own visa and immigration status.
- Be able to provide evidence of a past writing practice conducted substantially in the English language
- Translation projects are not eligible
- Employees, current board members, and immediate families of employees or board members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation are not eligible to apply
- Flights are non-transferable and may only be used by the successful applicant for the Max Margles Residency. If the applicant wishes to travel independently outside of the residency period, QWF will not be responsible for any external travel costs
- The successful applicant must be able to commit to being resident in accommodation in Dublin for the full four weeks of the residency
If you have any questions about the physical accessibility of the accommodation or other venues of the residency, of the possibility of applying with young children, or any access questions, please contact the QWF office at 514-933-0878.
How to Apply
All applications are to be made via the Submittable platform (click on the button at the end of this text).
Please prepare and upload the following as two Word or PDF files:
- A single document, with your first name, last name, and “Max_Margles_2023_Application in the title, containing the following components:
- A one-page writing CV
- A statement of your approach to writing, career, notable achievements, and/or future goals (max 500 words)
- An outline of what you hope to work on during the residency: this can be conceptualization, research, starting a new project or continuing an existing one, etc. (max 300 words). Please note that the project or work of the residency does not need to be connected to Dublin or Ireland.
- Why the residency will be beneficial to you at this particular time (max 300 words)
- A proposal for an activity to be carried out in partnership with the Irish Writers Centre (max 300 words)
- A writing sample—max 10 pages (Word or PDF, double spaced). Please include your first name, last name, and “Max_Margles_2023_Writing_Sample” in the title of the document.
Context of the Max Margles Writing Residency
Max Margles loved to read. He was an in-depth reader, seeking out books that were well-written and engrossing, relevant and meaningful. He kept two Rolodex files – one arranged by author, the other arranged by title. On these small cards, in his meticulous printing (he was a structural engineer), he summarized the nature of the book, the plot, and his eloquent assessment of the work.
When Max died suddenly in 2004, his widow Roslyn looked for projects to endow in Max’s memory. Since the couple have no children, Roslyn carries on this mandate with vigor and pride. She established a Max Margles Endowment Fund at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, sponsoring an annual lecture by outstanding literary authors. Recent guests have included Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie, with Ian McEwan and Colson Whitehead coming to read in 2020.
The project will keep Max’s memory alive, provide an opportunity for Quebec writers to spend meaningful time in a space in which they can contemplate and create, and support a significant new contribution to English-language culture in Quebec.
Tracey Waddleton wrote about her experiences in Dublin for the QWF website: you can see them here and here.