Writers from the UNESCO Cities of Literature are invited to spend up to one month in Odesa — Ukraine’s great Black Sea port and one of Europe’s most singular literary cities.

Built on centuries of departures and arrivals, Odesa has long been a city of wit, freedom, and literary nerve. Here, writers have always turned hardship into style and friction into innovation. Historically polyglot and cosmopolitan, it remains quick-witted, irreverent, and restlessly alive.

Odesa’s sea light, courtyards, grand staircases, and noisy streets have fed generations of writers since Babel. Today, in the shadow of war, the city continues to write, publish, translate, and defend free letters. It remains a place where language matters, writing remains necessary, conversation lives, and literature belongs in public.

The residency provides something rare: space and time to work and get to know Odesa’s literary community. Residents will stay in privately rented apartments in Odesa’s historic centre, allowing them to experience the city as residents rather than visitors. It is designed as a time of creative freedom. Residents are free to use the time as they choose: to write, read, research, translate, walk the city, begin new conversations, or simply think. In return the City of Literature ask for modest participation in the city’s literary life: one or two public events, and a short reflective text afterward.

This is a paid opportunity, with stipend and travel support, for writers in UNESCO Cities of Literature. Please read the additional information below carefully before applying.

Deadline for applications: 20th July