The application process for the much-covered Write-A-House project in Detroit, in which writers take residence in restored homes in the city, opens today. If you're not down for the Amtrak train residency, how about something more solitary?
Back in December, the Write-A-House residency program announced its fundraising campaign to refurbish three homes on the city's east side. The goal of the project is to create a residency program for writers — fiction and non-fiction — and poets to add to the already colorful literary scene.
Write-A-House met its goal and now applications are being taken in for the first of the three homes, pictured above. Writers must meet an income threshold; if you've published something and are now a millionaire because of it, you're too rich. And they also must commit to not only maintaining the home, but being a good neighbor and good Detroiter.
I've already told you what time it is when it comes to snapping up property in Detroit, so I'm sure you want to know the deal about where these homes are and what's the deal with the neighborhood. They're on the east side of the city north of Hamtramck, Michigan's most diverse city and one of the most international towns in the world. (And Andrew Zimmern was there once!)
You might have heard a few years back when national and international media really started ramping up the ruin-porn coverage of Detroit about a couple of artists who were buying homes for cheap and converting them into artistic spaces. Same area, same neighborhood.
Applications will be taken through June 21 and ten finalists will be chosen in August. They will be judged by a panel of Detroit writers, including dream hampton (co-author of "Decoded") and Toby Barlow ("Sharp Teeth," "Baba Yaga.")
Sounds like something you'd be down for? Read the entire list of rules here and apply here. And then let's hang out at Small's when you get here.