Warszawa

Staromiejski Dom Kultury

Warsaw remains the single Polish city most featured in literature coming from the country – described not only by Adam Mickiewicz in his Ordon’s Redoubt, Bolesław Prus in The Doll and Leopold Tyrmand in Zły, but also a multitude of contemporary authors. Every year sees publication of numerous history books, architectural atlases, memoirs and letters, which tell the stories of the capital city and its people. The modernist townhouses, park alleys and library reading rooms still bear the steps of prominent intellectuals – Julia Hartwig, Tadeusz Konwicki, Marek Nowakowski, Zbigniew Herbert, Maria Janion, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Maria Dąbrowska and Marek Hłasko. 

Warsaw is a city of cafés, bars, theatres and concert halls, while boasting the scale of other European metropolises. It is a multicultural place, offering a vibrant club scene, as well as dozens of art galleries and intriguing architecture to boot. The life goes on in numerous bookshops, at café tables and in bars on the surface. Every person who at least once in their lifetime decided to jump into the fray of night life and returned home in a taxi at dawn knows that the scenes from Jakub Żulczyk’s Blinded by the Lights are not entirely made up. During a morning walk on the streets of the capital, you can encounter the protagonists of Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet by Sylwia Chutnik. If you do not watch your steps, you can even find yourself in a pickle with Kuba Wirus and other characters from Zły. While returning from Grochów, you would be hard-pressed not to encounter Patrycja Pitz or Stanisław Retro – the protagonists of Paw królowej by Dorota Masłowska, and if you decide to stray away from the city centre, you will meet the local residents of the blocks of flats and their life wisdoms, described in great detail by Paweł Sołtys in Mikrotyki. 

While organising our residencies, we want foreign writers and translators to become a part of Warsaw’s literary world. We encourage everybody to spend a couple of weeks around the Old Town Market Square to discover the local artistic scene, explore the history of the city and take advantage of its festival and event offering. Our residents can take advantage of an apartment in the heart of the city with a comfortable space for creative work, professional and logistical support, as well as be involved in our institutions’ everyday operations.

The residencies in Warsaw are organised by the Old Town Cultural Centre, which has been active in the literary, artistic and publishing fields since the 1950s. In addition to its residency programme, the institution also awards scholarships, runs several publishing series, organises regular meetings with authors and hosts workshops with writers. It is a comfortable and inspiring place for creative work, open to diversity and authors from all over the world.