The modern media typically directs its attention only to extraordinary and anomalous events: accidents, scoops and scandals. It tends to notice places and people only at moments of crisis. The ordinary, which tends to be very special, slips through its net.
Writers in Residence is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping writers chronicle the contemporary world.
Writers in Residence is committed to fostering high-quality literary representations of vital sections of the contemporary world – for the enlightenment, education and delight of a wide audience.
Writers in Residence believes that contemporary reality has – paradoxically – often become harder to ‘see’ and properly interpret. This has led to widespread feelings of disconnection and alienation, undermining ordinary citizens’ sense of engagement with government, business and civil society.
Writers in Residence proposes that, despite the overwhelming power of media, it is frequently still writers who teach us to see and understand.
Writers in Residence is a not-for-profit organisation devoted to recording and describing key institutions of the modern world – through the talent of some of the greatest writers on the planet.
Writers in Residence believes in the complexity and interest of ordinary processes and rituals and allows its writers to observe with patience and perspective what the media too often misses.
Writers in Residence hence sets out to gather the best writers on the planet to be the witnesses and chroniclers of our times. It draws inspiration in part from the many great writers of the past who opened our minds to aspects of reality: Walt Whitman, Emile Zola, Virginia Woolf, Norman Mailer, Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Writers in Residence places writers in significant organisations in a diversity of countries, giving them the opportunity to observe and reflect on what they see with unusual calm and depth. Their writings are to appear in a series of short books published across the globe.
Zo is er Kitten Clone van Douglas Coupland, een boek over Alcatel-Lucent, die het mogelijk maakt dat de mensheid kan internetten. – writersinresidence.org