Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing, is delighted to announce that Edinburgh-based writers Jenni Fagan (above) and Theresa Muñoz have been awarded the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowships for 2018.
Four Fellows are named annually and this year’s other recipients are David Keenan and Shane Strachan. The Fellows were selected by a panel, which changes every year.
The Fellowship was initiated in 1994 by Franki Fewkes, a Scottish Robert Louis Stevenson enthusiast, and is managed by Scottish Book Trust and supported by Creative Scotland. Intended to give writers a chance to escape the routine and distractions of their everyday lives to devote time to their writing, it provides residencies for four writers at the Hôtel Chevillon International Arts Centre at Grez-sur-Loing, France. Travel and accommodation costs are covered, plus a grant of £300 per week for living expenses.
Grez-sur-Loing is at the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau and was chosen because of its connections with Robert Louis Stevenson who first visited in 1875. It was there, at the Hôtel Chevillon, that he met his future wife Fanny Osbourne. Stevenson found both the place, and its community of writers and artists, highly attractive and he returned to Grez-sur-Loing for three successive summers.
Previous Fellows include Liz Lochhead, Janice Galloway, Jo Clifford, James Robertson and Louise Welsh. As well as the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, Scottish Book Trust supports writers through initiatives such as the New Writers Awards, Next Chapter Award, the ‘What’s Your Story?’ programme for young writers and the Live Literature Fund, which makes funding available to enable authors to visit schools and communities.
Jenni Fagan (above) is a novelist, poet and screenwriter based in Edinburgh. Her debut novel The Panopticon was published in 2012 and received worldwide critical acclaim. The following year, Jenni was the only Scottish writer on the once-a-decade Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Poetry from her collection The Dead Queen of Bohemia was included in Scottish Poetry Library’s poems of the year, and she also won the 3AM Poetry Book of the Year for Urchin Belle.
A film version of The Panopticon, which Jenni has completed the screenplay for, is in development with Ken Loach’s production company, Sixteen Films. She wrote and directed her first short film last year, based around a poem called Edinburgh District Asylum.
Jenni has also been on lists for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Sunday Times Short Story Prize, BBC Short Story Award, Desmond Elliott Prize, Pushcart and Britain’s oldest literary award, the James Tait Black Prize. Her work has been translated into seven languages.
After many years of deliberation, Jenni has decided to write her memoir, stating that the retreat provided by the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship will give her the ideal space and time to take on such a personally challenging book.
Jenni said: “I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to take a Robert Louis Stevenson fellowship. It is one I have dreamt of for years and I feel lucky to have this chance at a time where I really will benefit from the support put in place by Scottish Book Trust. I look forward to immersing myself in daily life at Hotel Chevillon and exploring the area so dear to Robert Louis Stevenson, all those years ago.”
Theresa Muñoz (above) was born in Vancouver, Canada and now lives in Edinburgh. She is currently Research Associate at the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts at Newcastle University, where she helps coordinate the Newcastle Poetry Festival.
Her debut book of poems Settle (Vagabond Voices, 2016) was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize. She has been published in several journals in the UK and Canada, including Canadian Literature, Wild Court, Poetry Review and Best Scottish Poems. Earlier this year she received a Muriel Spark Centenary Award for her poetry.
During her residence Theresa plans to work on a sequence of villanelles which span the themes of race, gender, relationships and loss, most set against a Scottish backdrop.
Theresa said: “I was so excited and filled with gratitude when I got the call about the Fellowship, which was completely unexpected. This is a fantastic opportunity to work on a sequence of villanelles that will have a significant place in my next poetry collection.
“This is my first writing residency and I can’t wait to get going. Thank you to Scottish Book Trust and the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship for making a major difference to my writing life!”
Marc Lambert, CEO at Scottish Book Trust, said: “The Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for writers to work in seclusion on a specific project, in such beautiful and historic surroundings.
“Congratulations to our new Fellows, all of us at Scottish Book Trust look forward to supporting them on the next stage of their creative journey.”
Alan Bett, Literature Officer at Creative Scotland said: “Drawing on Scottish literary heritage, The Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship this year awards four of our freshest contemporary voices in Jenni Fagan, David Keenan, Theresa Muñoz and Shane Strachan.
“Through travel to the significant setting of the Hôtel Chevillon International Arts Centre at Grez-sur-Loing and a distancing from the distractions of everyday life, they will be provided the space they need to fully devote themselves to new works. Creative Scotland are delighted to support these residencies, which allow our writers to immerse themselves fully in the artistic process, to the benefit of their work and eventually all of us readers.”
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