Professional writers at ICORN or newly arrived professional writers in Sweden, we at Författarcentrum (Writer’s Center) want to inform you of the Writers’ Center and encourage you to become members.
The Writers’ Center is a non-profit organization for professional writers, founded in 1967. Our activities aim to bring writers and readers together, to diversify the range of culture, and to safeguard freedom of speech and opinion.
The Center is divided into four regions – East, North, West and South – with offices in Stockholm, Umeå, Göteborg and Malmö respectively. Currently, 1 400 professional writers are members of the Writers’ Center. It is supported financially by the Swedish Arts Council.
The Writers’ Center runs the Writers’ Agency, Sweden’s largest booking agency for writers. Through the Agency, writers can be booked for school visits, readings, workshops, debates, poetry festivals, seminars etc. The Agency’s services are free of charge. The Writers’ Center does not actively seek out bookings for its members, but serves as a link between writers and potential public forums.
Apart from the Writers’ Agency we run a large number of projects to encourage reading and writing. Every year we arrange literary events on World Poetry Day and World Book Day. We also run several school projects where writers come to lecture and inspire students, teachers and parents.
As fairly new to Sweden, one of the greatest challenges an artist might face could be to find continuity in your work. It is, of course, something every artist struggle with, whether they have lived in a country for a long time or just arrived. But even more so when you are unsure as in where to turn. There might be language barriers to overcome as well.
We can’t promise that the Writers’ center will fill that void, but it is precisely one of their goals; to connect writers to each other through events and get-togethers in order to help us find each other, understand the industry, and discover new collaborations.
As Fristadsförfattare, the membership fee is free during the first two years. Regular members pay 350-450 SEK a year, depending on your region.
Send the application form linked below, as well as one of your publications to:
Författarcentrum Riks, Friisgatan 15 B, 214 21 Malmö.