Irish poet Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe selected for Heaney-Miłosz Residency 2025

Irish poet Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe has been selected for the next Heaney-Miłosz Residency – a writer-in-residence programme celebrating the friendship between Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Czesław Miłosz.

The Residency – a partnership between the Estate of Seamus Heaney, the Krakow Festival Office (KBF), and the Irish Embassy in Poland – will take place in Krakow, Poland, later this year.

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe is a poet, pacifist and fabulist. Born in India, she grew up across the Middle East, Europe and North America, before calling Ireland home. Founder of the Play It Forward Fellowships, she is the commissioning editor at Skein Press, poetry editor at Fallow Media, and contributing editor to The Stinging Fly. The recipient of The Ireland Chair of Poetry Award, Next Generation Artist Award, Rooney Writer Fellowship, and the James S. Rockefeller, Jr. & Marilyn Moss Rockefeller Award, she has formerly been a writer-in-residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris and Temple Bar Art Gallery + Studios in Dublin. She serves as a board member of Culture Ireland and the Dublin Book Festival, and a jury member for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award. Auguries of a Minor God, her first collection of poetry, was published by Faber to critical acclaim in 2021.

First launched in 2022, the Heaney-Miłosz Residency offers the chance for an emerging or mid-career writer, resident on the island of Ireland, to spend up to six weeks next year in the city of Krakow. As part of the Residency, Ms. Eipe will stay in the former Krakow apartment of Polish poet and writer Czesław Miłosz, in October 2025.

Welcoming Ms. Eipe’s selection, Michael Heaney, of the Estate of Seamus Heaney, said:

"We are delighted that Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe will be the writer-in-residence for this year’s Heaney-Milosz Residency in Krakow. A wonderfully vibrant poet and activist who has strong bonds with Ireland and Poland, Nidhi embodies the values that Seamus Heaney cherished, and we hope that she will enjoy a creatively and personally fulfilling stay in this historic city."

Ambassador of Ireland to Poland, Patrick Haughey, also welcomed the news:

“It is great to see another talented writer selected for the Heaney-Milosz Residency. I wish Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe the very best during her stay in the wonderful city of Krakow. The Residency continues to act as a compelling symbol of the close bonds between Ireland and Poland.”

The Heaney–Miłosz Residency aims to support writers, resident in Ireland, who are at the early to mid-stages of their careers. The Residency intends to period provide writers the space and time to develop their work in the beautiful surroundings of Krakow city.

During the residency period, the writer will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of events and meetings with representatives of the creative and literary community in Krakow. At the end of the residency, the writer will provide a written reflection on their experience there.

Carolina Pietyra, Director of KBF, the operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme, commented:

“Krakow is a city that is bursting with creative energy, and has always been home to many writers, poets and creators related to literature. We are very happy that we will host Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe here in October, when the whole city is thriving with literature thanks to the international Conrad Festival. I am sure that our city will become a safe and inspiring haven for the author.”

20 writers responded to the Call for Proposals for the Residency, launched in September 2025.