The Writers-in-Residence program was the first program instituted at the Weymouth Center.
Learn more about the Cos Barnes Fellowship in Fiction
Initiated in 1979 by Sam Ragan, Weymouth President and NC Poet Laureate, and the Friends of Weymouth Board of Directors, it was a natural addition to the literary tradition established by James Boyd. Boyd was a writer of significance who, together with his wife Katharine, hosted several literary greats such as Thomas Wolfe, Paul Green, Maxwell Perkins, Sherwood Anderson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others.
Meet Christine Hennessey, winner of the 2018 Cos Barnes Fellowship and 2017 Cos Barnes Fellowship in Fiction winner, Anita Collins.
Open to North Carolina natives, current residents, or to those with significant ties to the state, the program has nurtured and inspired hundreds of writers over the years, many of whom attribute their flow of creativity to the beautiful surroundings and peaceful solitude.
Requirements:
- Be a North Carolina native, current resident or direct tie to North Carolina
- Publication credits (poems, short stories, screenplays, novels, articles or works of nonfiction)
- A plan to work on a specific project during the stay
- A minimum stay of one week (coming in on Monday and leaving the following Monday), with a maximum stay of two weeks per year.
For each writer, we provide a room with a desk, bed, reading chair, blankets and a pillow. Linens (sheets, pillow case, towels and face cloths), food and beverages, toiletries, and travel expenses are the participant’s responsibility. The writers’ area of the house has a full kitchen; three baths; a sitting room; covered veranda; and four bedrooms. In order to preserve the peace and solitude in the writers’ section, we’ve limited wifi access to the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame study.
The Boyd House at Weymouth is a 9,000 s.f. Georgian mansion set on 26 acres. Though there is no charge for the residencies, we do ask for donations so that we may keep the house and grounds in good repair and available for our writers for years to come. Suggested minimum donation: $150/week.
Please email any questions to residency@weymouthcenter.org
Our shoes clamor in empty chambers,
room after room, and the sunlight’s
whole animal is asleep on bare floors.
Beyond the undraped windows, gardens crouch
deranged beneath their wild invaders.
Only the high pines and the willows
have kept to their places under the sky.
The vast hollows of the house whine, beginning
to know they will be filled…”
~Betty Adcock, from her poem “Written at the Country Mansion of the 1920s, Now Partially restored as a Retreat for Poets.”
Apply now to be a Weymouth Writer-in-Residence.
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