Urban Wild Writer Residency

Call for Proposals: Urban Wild Writer Residency

A nonfiction writing residency at Freshkills Park

Hosted by Freshkills Park and Urban Omnibus

urbanomnibus.net/urban-wild

About

Urban Omnibus announces a new opportunity for an Urban Wild Writer in partnership with NYC Parks and the Freshkills Park Alliance. Thoreau explored wilderness in earshot of a commuter train and walking distance from his mother’s house. Rachel Carson plumbed the biodiversity of suburbia. We seek a writer to explore and interpret the contemporary urban landscape where highways meet gas wells, herons, and kayakers.

This experience for one writer-in-residence is hosted at the 2,200-acre closed landfill on Staten Island that will become the second-largest public park in New York City. The writing residency seeks to bring a first-hand perspective to topics that include the environment, technology, urban life, nature, and waste. One writer will gain personal access to the diverse ecosystems present in the unopened park in late summer, 2018. The writer will produce a work of creative nonfiction engaging with the contemporary metropolitan landscape to be published online by Urban Omnibus in the fall of 2018. The residency is designed to be short, flexible, and out of doors.

The Hosts

Freshkills Park represents the transformation of Fresh Kills Landfill into an extraordinary 2,200-acre urban park that will be a model for sustainable waterfront land reclamation, a source of pride for Staten Island and New York City, and a gift of open space for generations to come. Urban Omnibus is The Architectural League of New York’s online publication dedicated to observing, understanding, and shaping the city. We raise new questions, illuminate diverse perspectives, and document creative projects to advance the collective work of citymaking.

Jurors

Garnette Cadogan, editor-at-large of Non-Stop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas and author of "Walking While Black";

Robert Sullivan, author of The Meadowlands, Rats, and The Thoreau You Don’t Know; landscape architect Gena Wirth, Design Principal at SCAPE; and representatives of Urban Omnibus and Freshkills Park.

Compensation and Logistics

The five-day residency may take place continuously over the course of a week, or over multiple weekends or days from August to September 2018. The resident will receive a stipend of $1,000 USD. The residency will additionally reimburse up to $500 in travel and accommodation expenses as necessary; hotel accommodation is available near the Park and local transportation can be arranged. Freshkills Park will provide transportation from the Staten Island Ferry or Lower Manhattan to and around the interior of the Park.

Application Process and Submission

To learn more about the application process and to submit an application, visit urbanomnibus.net/urban-wild