Edinburgh and Melbourne Cities of Literature to launch exchange program

Five Melbourne literary programmers will have the opportunity to visit Edinburgh in August this year, as part of a new exchange program between the Melbourne and Edinburgh Cities of Literature.

The Edinburgh Exchange will be offered to literary programmers in both cities, with the Edinburgh City of Literature hosting in August 2018 and Melbourne hosting in 2020.

The new initiative offers selected programmers the opportunity to network at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh International Festival, in order to ‘exchange knowledge, build international ties, see a range of shows and explore the industry’. Successful recipients will receive $4000 towards travel expenses and the opportunity to billet with a representative from Edinburgh’s City of Literature.

Director of Edinburgh City of Literature Ali Bowden said, ‘Programming live events is a hugely important part of Edinburgh being a City of Literature. Through readings, performance and creative encounters, audience members can encounter the literary world in new and exciting ways. We’re delighted to be able to host literary programmers from our sister city of Melbourne: it’ll be a great opportunity to learn from each other, encourage collaboration and stimulate new and experimental approaches to programming in both Scotland and Australia’.

Applications for the program are open until 26 March. Funding is available to individual Victorian residents working in the literary sector.

For more information, see the Melbourne City of Literature website.

Category: Local news