The Quebec Writers’ Federation is delighted to announce that the fourth Max Margles Writing Residency in Ireland is open for applications!
The deadline to apply is: Monday 28 April, 2025, 5:00 pm ET
Please read the criteria carefully before submitting your application.
The Max Margles Writing Residency
Once again, a Quebec writer will have the opportunity to reflect and write in the magnificent countryside of Co. Monaghan, Ireland, for the 2025 Max Margles Writing Residency. After Aimee Wall’s successful visit in 2024, QWF is once more partnering with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig to offer a Quebec-based, English-language fiction writer a self-directed creation residency in October 2025.
The residency, made possible by the generous patronage of Roslyn Margles in memory of her husband Max Margles, includes:
- Round trip flights from Montreal, Quebec to Ireland, and travel to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre
- Accommodation & meals
- A stipend of $2,300 CAD
- Allowance for incidental expenses ($35 per day)
- Travel and medical insurance
The successful applicant will be asked to write one short blog post a week into their residency and one blog post on their return to Quebec, both to be published on QWF’s website.
This will be the fourth Max Margles Writing Residency between Quebec and Ireland, with writers Heather O’Neill and Tracey Waddleton based in the heart of Dublin City in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and Aimee Wall in place at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2024.
My time at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre was such a wonderful experience—I loved the uninterrupted time to work and think, the inspiring conversations with a houseful of open and generous artists, the beautiful surroundings to explore. It was a real gift, and one that’s had an impact on my writing practice that extends beyond the new pages I wrote while I was there.
Aimee Wall, 2024 Max Margles Writer in Residence
Timeline
- Applications open: Monday, March 17, 2025
- Application deadline: Monday, April 28, 2025, 5:00 pm ET
- Announcement of successful participant: beginning of June 2025
- Residency begins: Monday, October 6, 2025
- Residency ends: Saturday, October 25, 2025
The 2025 Residence: The Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Established in 1981, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre is Ireland’s foremost artistic residency centre. The Annaghmakerrig “Big House” has eleven private bedrooms, and offers residencies to international artists in all disciplines, from literature to dance, music to theatre. The 2025 Max Margles Writer-in-Residence will have peace and quiet to fully concentrate on their creative project.
Eligibility Criteria
In 2025, 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.
- Be a QWF member in good standing at the time of application and throughout the Residency. Visit our Membership Overview page for details on how to become a QWF member. 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.
Restrictions:
- 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 the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for the full period of the Residency (October 6–25, 2025).
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 Submittable.
Please prepare and upload a single Word or PDF document with your first name, last name, and “Max_Margles_2025_Application” in the title containing the following:
- 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 Ireland.
- Why the residency will be beneficial to you at this particular time (max 300 words)
- A writing sample (max 10 pages, double spaced)
About Max Margles
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 vigour and pride. She established a Max Margles Endowment Fund at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, sponsoring an annual lecture by outstanding literary authors, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Colson Whitehead.
This 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.