UNIQUE, NO-COST WRITERS’ RESIDENCY AT LINDEN PLACE AIMS TO RE-EXAMINE HISTORY THROUGH A CONTEMPORARY, CREATIVE LENS
Eight Rhode Island Writers to Be Selected for Inaugural Program
BRISTOL, R.I. –Linden Place historic house museum in Bristol will play host to a unique, no-cost, creative writers’ residency throughout the month of April. The daytime-only residency aims to provide Rhode Island creative writers with dedicated time and space to create new works of fiction or narrative non-fiction that somehow include an aspect of Linden Place.
Local author and editor Leigh Medeiros conceived of the artist residency and hopes that writers will use this opportunity to explore, examine, and interpret the museum’s rich and complicated history through contemporary points of view. “There are so many layers to the house’s history – from enslavement and colonialism to class divides and the agency of women,’ Medeiros says. “It’s fertile ground for creative interpretation.”
Three esteemed judges will select eight writers from a statewide pool of applicants. Each of the selected residents will receive a free self-guided audio tour, on-site workspace during residency, access to archives for research, a $100 travel stipend, and a discounted rate at the Bradford-Dimond Norris B&B next door should they wish to stay nearby while working.
The program will culminate in a community reading and moderated discussion of works-in-progress in early June.
Beginner, mid-career, hobbyist, and established writers of all genres of fiction, narrative non-fiction, poets, screenwriters, and playwrights 18 and older who primarily reside in Rhode Island are encouraged to apply.
Submissions open January 31stat LindenPlace.org.
Linden Place is a nonprofit museum with a potent place in American history. Built in 1810 by a DeWolf slave trader, occupants and visitors have included Presidents, enslaved Africans, famous writers, servants, freed slaves, business magnates, Hollywood actors, abolitionists, and philanthropists. The museum’s collection includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, and rare items, such as a horse-drawn coach from the 1820’s.
The house has notable architectural details and sits on 1.8 acres of land that are part of the Wampanoag/Pokanoket ancestral homelands. Its literary lineage includes salons and poetry readings attended by such writers as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Greenleaf Whittier.
The residency is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Friends of Linden Place is a non-profit organization responsible for the restoration and preservation of the historic house museum at 500 Hope Street in Bristol, Rhode Island, and for the promotion of cultural, artistic, and educational programs in the community. The mansion and grounds are open to the public from May to October, during the holiday season, and also by appointment.
Leigh Medeiros
Residency Program Director