Artist’s Residence Dilsberg

Writer in Residence Program

Our next artist in residence in 2024: Anton Kurnia

We are pleased to announce that the next guest of our Writer in Residency Program this spring (April-June 2024) is the Indonesian writer and literary translator Anton Kurnia from UNESCO City of Literature Jakarta. He writes short stories, novels, essays and narrative nonfiction. Since 1998, his works have been published by various journals and websites in Indonesia and abroad. His short story collection “Insomnia” (2004) has been translated into English, Arabic and Spanish. He has published three collections of short stories, six collections of essays on literature and culture, and a novel. In addition, he wrote a travelogue about his travels to various countries, “Many Roads to Prague” (2022). His first novel “Majnun” (2022) is a love story mixed with historical and cultural elements. “Nostalgia: Peculiar Stories about Love and Death” (2023) is his latest collection of short stories. He also translated many literary works from English to Indonesian, including novels by Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell and Salman Rushdie, and had a long career as a book publishing executive. He is often invited to take part in international literary festivals and book events, including the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali (2009), ASEAN Literary Festival in Jakarta (2016), ASEAN Writers Symposium in Laos (2018), Jakarta International Literary Festival (2019), Invitation Program at the Frankfurt Book Fair (2019), and the First Forum of Asian Countries' Writers in Kazakhstan (2019). He was selected to take part in the Melbourne Virtual Writers Residency in 2022. Currently he also serves as Chair of the Literature Committee of the Jakarta Arts Council.

After having had Pippa Goldschmid (Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature) as our guest in 2018 and Judith Rossell (Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature) in 2020/2022, we are looking forward to welcome Anton Kurnia on April 8, 2024.

Meet the writer at several events (further information here (66,4 KB)):
- Apr 26 / 7.30pm, talk & reading at Kommandantenhaus Dilsberg
- Jun 3 / 8.00pm, talk & reading at DAI Heidelberg 
- Jun 2 / 8.30pm, talk and reading at "feeLit. International Literary Festival" Heidelberg

About the programm

Work Grant awarded by the "Kulturstiftung Rhein-Neckar-Kreis e.V." in cooperation with Heidelberg UNESCO City of Literature for authors from UNESCO Cities of Literature
in the “Commandant’s House Dilsberg”, at Dilsberg Fortress, in Neckargemünd (approximately 14 km from Heidelberg).
The building served as the Commandant’s quarters of the Dilsberg garrison in the 17th century. The former Commandant’s House was acquired 1996 and renovated by the Rhein-Neckar-District. Since then the "Commandant’s House Dilsberg" has been a center for the promotion of art and culture: exhibitions, chamber music concerts, open-air concerts, readings, symposia and discussion rounds enrich the cultural life of the region. Here, art, music, and literature grant holders find a creative work sphere.
The duration of the biennial scholarship is 3 months with residence obligation in the Commandant’s House Dilsberg.

Downloadable forms