Amtrak is launching a new project called Amtrak Writer’s Residency which will try and connect writers with the flowing countryside and hoping that the clack of the train hitting the tracks will be resonated in the keys being pressed on a laptop. A Chicago Tribune article explains that Amtrak is “borrowing a page from ivory-tower universities” which typically give designated space in libraries or offices to authors and poets. However, in that realm you are stuck in a single place. Amtrak is hoping to provide “an inspirational space for writing” and that inspiration with stem from the beautiful surroundings that are always changing as the train barrels down the track.
So how will this work?
Amtrak has already opened up the gates for applications to come in and applications will be accepted until March 2015. Selected applicants will be able to take part in the writer’s residency and will be able to travel for free round trip on any of the long-distance routes that Amtrak has to offer. Each trip includes it’s own private sleeper and meals are also included.
After announcing the residency on March 8, there have been over 10,000 applications to date. The appeal is an experience like no other and to which the Tribune says isn’t “available at 35,000 feet.”
The writer’s residency is not limited to only published authors though. Amtrak says that they are looking for individuals who are creative and passionate about working on their craft as well as train travel. In fact Amtrak is looking for “a good mix of people” and are hoping to find novelists, short-story writers, writers just getting on their feet in college and freelance writers from around the world.
Amtrak states that there are very few strings attached and they will be selecting 24 participants each year for the next two years.
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