For the third time, the City of Chemnitz's cultural organisation is offering a scholarship for a literary producer. We are looking for a person who will live in Chemnitz for a maximum of six months from 1 April 2026 and during this time will engage intensively with the city and region, participate in the socio-political and cultural discourse and enrich it with their own analogue and/or digital contributions.
The scholarship will be remunerated with 1,500 euros per month for a period of up to six months. In addition, a furnished flat will be provided for this period.
The prerequisite is that the scholarship holder writes and publishes in German, regardless of first language, bilingualism or nationality. In addition, the person should be able to present at least one independent, non-self-published publication.
Applications can be submitted from tomorrow, 1 August, until 14 September 2025. A text sample (max. 10,000 characters), a CV, a bibliography of previous publications (if applicable), a letter of motivation (max. 2,000 characters) and a description of a specific work project (max. 4,000 characters) should be sent as a PDF file by email to: literaturstipendium(at)stadt-chemnitz.de.
The selection will be made by a jury consisting of authors and cultural actors with links to Chemnitz.
Background
The scholarship enables people to engage more intensively with the past and present of life in the city of Chemnitz and the region.
In line with the City of Chemnitz's cultural strategy "Giving Culture Space" and in continuation of the Capital of Culture motto C the Unseen, urban society and its surroundings are setting out together to increasingly localise themselves in Europe, to make the undiscovered visible, tangible and conceivable.
With the scholarship, a scriptor in residence is invited to participate and present parts of his or her current work, e.g. at readings at the start and end of the scholarship, in the cultural life of the city and at interactive readings in schools and educational institutions.
The City of Chemnitz Literature Scholarship was announced for the first time in 2022 and for the second time in 2023. More than 40 applications from all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland were received for each of the two calls for applications.
As the first literature scholarship holder, Arna Aley enriched the cultural life of the city from October 2022 to March 2023. From April to October 2024, Stefan Hornbach was the second literary scholarship holder, reading in front of an audience and writing his second novel.
All information on the call for applications at
www.chemnitz.de/literaturstipendium