Residency Scholarship for 21 Writers

Kompas, page 11

The Ministry of Education and Culture provides residency scholarships for 21 writers so they can conduct researches abroad. It is hoped that their researches could enrich and strengthen the quality of writers of various genres in the country. The residency destinations are Mexico, England, the Netherlands, France, Vietnam and Finland.

In this program, Kemdikbud cooperates with the National Book Committee (KBN) which is authorized to select the authors who submit the proposal. Kemdikbud’s flagship scholarship program for author’s residency began in 2016. KBN chairperson Laura Prinsloo said that in 2016 KBN received 200 proposals. After selection 10 authors were nominated. The benefits felt by the author of this program were very pronounced. They were required to write annotations of the journey per week. From these notes could be seen the development of insight and quality of their writing.

In 2017, there are 500 proposals received by KBN. After the selection, 22 people were elected. Laura said the authors who signed up must have already published works. Especially for the residency program for 1-3 months overseas, the writers are required to complete their work. That means residency is conducting research to complement work that is in the process of completion, not a work about to be written.