I’ve recently returned home from a six-week residency at MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, where I was working on my second novel.
In those six weeks, I wrote a chunk of my book, produced new work (in part, to help me explore issues of climate change in my novel) and read fifteen novels. I met some truly amazing people, working across the arts, and have come away absolutely buoyed by the experience.
The Colony was established in 1907, primarily through the efforts of Marian MacDowell, the wife of American composer Edward MacDowell, who died prematurely in 1908. Marian recognised the difficulty of creating art, and seemed particularly aware of how this affected women, and thus MacDowell Colony was born, a visionary act which has become the model for many other artist residency programmes.
I want to thank everyone at MacDowell for giving me the opportunity to work on my novel there. It’s an experience I shall carry with me for many years.
More information on MacDowell Colony, including how to apply, can be found here: http://www.macdowellcolony.org
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