Writer’s Fellowship for Julius Keler
The third Neringa Municipality scholarship is awarded to Julius Keler, writer in residence at the International Centre for Translators and Writers. The writer will be in residence in Neringa in April next year.
Poet, translator, playwright Julius Keleras is well known to the cultural community of Neringa, especially Nida. Seven years ago, his photography exhibition “Nida – Silent Openings” started his journey through Lithuania. While Neringa was wearing the crown of the Lithuanian Capital of Culture, the poetry anthology “I Want to Return to Nida”, compiled by J. Kelers, was presented (the book was published by the Neringa Municipality Viktoras Miliūnas Public Library), and this summer, he was an invited guest of the festival “N žemė”.
“Nida is an important part of my inspiration. I have written a number of poems based on Nida, Preila, and Curonian motifs, and I will continue my haiku cycle, where separate parts are dedicated to Nida,” he says about his relationship with this region.
Presenting his creative plans, Keleras notes that during his residency in Nida he would like to work on his collection of poems “Šalia šalnõs” (working title), in which he plans to publish a haiku cycle and poems written in 2005-2023 in and about Nida. The book will be published by the Lithuanian Writers’ Union in 2024. During his stay in Nida, the writer also plans to continue work on a new book of lyric poetry, Intimate, which will be published by the Lithuanian Union of Writers’ Associations in 2024. will be published by “58 Sapnai”.
“The atmospheric environment of the International Translators and Writers’ Centre fosters creativity and inspires ambition,” says Mr Keleras, motivating his desire to take up residence in Nida.
Darius Jasaitis, Mayor of Neringa Municipality, notes that the seaside and coastal landscape, the mosaic of sands and forests create special conditions for creativity. The autumn, winter and spring months are the best time to meet the muses, which is when the writer is invited to stay in the most beautiful Baltic seaside resort with a scholarship from the Neringa Municipality.
The aim of this grant is to encourage writers to create in Neringa, to develop cognitive-cultural exchanges, and to strengthen the inter-institutional cooperation between the Municipality of Neringa and the International Centre of Translators and Writers.
The Neringa Municipality Scholarship is awarded for a programme of creative activities carried out during the residency at the International Centre for Translators and Writers, consisting of creative works created, performed or otherwise publicly presented to the Neringa community. The amount of the scholarship is €1000.
Potential applicants for the scholarship are first selected by a panel of experts established by order of the Director of the Klaipėda County Ievos Simonaitytė Public Library, taking into account the applications received. The selected applicants are evaluated by a commission established by the ordinance of the Mayor of the Municipality of Neringa, which takes into account the importance of the creative activity programme for the development of culture and art in Neringa, and the links to the cultural identity and identity of the Curonian Spit.
