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Itinerant Residency

Exploratory residency

Residency brief

This itinerant residency offers a unique opportunity to undertake a research journey across India. Conceived as an open, research-driven residency, it invites the selected laureate to explore the country through movement, encounters, and immersion.

India, with its extraordinary linguistic diversity, layered histories, and vibrant contemporary literary scene, constitutes a particularly fertile ground for writers From the intellectual cafés and publishing houses of Kolkata to the multilingual dynamism of Mumbai, from Kerala’s deeply rooted literary culture to the vibrant oral storytelling traditions of Rajasthan, the country offers a multiplicity of narratives, voices, and imaginaries.

This is a country where literature circulates between languages, where oral traditions coexist with avant-garde practices, and where questions of ecology, identity, memory, and territory are constantly being rewritten. For generations, writers have travelled through India not only as observers, but as participants in a deeper process of transformation, allowing the journey itself to reshape their voice and perspective.

Within this context, this residency welcomes a project that is rooted in the social, cultural or anthropological realities of India and that will result in a written production.

Unlike a traditional residency anchored in a single location, this programme unfolds across multiple sites. Over a period of one to two months, the resident can choose to travel to a maximum of six cities in India. The itinerary is curated jointly by the French Institute in India and the resident, in dialogue with local partners, and tailored to the needs of the project.

  • Thematic focus Literature
  • Location India (up to 6 cities/locations)
  • Dates Between November 2026 - May 2027
  • Length of stay 4 - 8 weeks

About the Residency

The itinerant Residency is designed as a balance between structure and openness. While the French Institute in India ensures logistical coordination and access to key cultural actors, the resident retains significant freedom in shaping the trajectory of their journey.

Throughout the residency, the writer can choose to immerse in diverse environments, ranging from major metropolitan centres to more regionally rooted contexts. Encounters with intellectual and grassroots communities, scholarly and literary ecosystems and local contexts will be facilitated, as well as access to relevant archives, bookspaces, and cultural institutions.

Depending on the residency period, the resident may also be invited to participate in a literary festival or public programme, offering opportunities for exchange with audiences and professionals.

As a travelling residency, accommodation will be arranged by the French Institute in India across different cities either in carefully selected accommodations located in iconic or culturally significant parts of the cities, or by partner organisations deeply embedded in the local literary and cultural ecosystem.

Atiq Rahimi

Author

For me, a successful residency is first and foremost a period of immersion, where literature and cinema nourish one another. I hope that India will transform The Other Woman, enriching its emotional, visual and narrative universe. Beyond writing the screenplay and the literary text, I hope that the encounters, landscapes, sounds and exchanges with artists will allow the project to evolve into something deeper, more organic and more alive—something that could not be achieved in any other way.

Atiq Rahimi is a Franco-Afghan writer and filmmaker who left his homeland at the age of 22. The author of Earth and Ashes, The Patience Stone (Prix Goncourt, 2008), A Curse on Dostoevsky and Mehsti, he has also adapted his novels for both cinema and opera. His works have been translated into around thirty languages, while his films have received awards at numerous international festivals. An aesthete, he is the creator of callimorphy, an artistic practice combining calligraphy and visual art, exhibited in Paris and New York. His work explores exile, memory, art and poetry, while questioning identity, language and the transmission of culture between East and West. His latest book, Kabuliwalla, c'est moi (Kabuliwalla, It's Me), has just been published.

Residency conditions

  • The residents’ travel costs to and from his/her home address, as well as domestic travel costs will be covered by the French Institute in India.
  • The resident will receive a fixed stipend of INR. 60 000 per month to cover his/her food and living expenses.
  • The resident will receive a fixed residency grant of INR. 50 000 per month.
  • The resident’s accommodation across the different cities of the travelling residency will be covered by the French Institute in India.
  • The resident should be willing to give up to 20% of their residency time to participate in literary festivals, lectures, workshops, conferences in local schools/universities and/ or other cultural activities organized by the French Institute in India
  • The French Institute in India expects the selected resident to send them a short text (1000 - 2000 words) or strip testifying of their experience within 3 months of completion of the residency.

Eligibility criteria

  • Proficiency in English is required for the applicant.
  • The resident must have one book (minimum) published by a publishing house. Self-published authors are not eligible.
  • The applicant should demonstrate a strong literary practice and a clear interest in engaging with diverse cultural contexts