Villa Annie Ernaux — Writing Residency

Launched by the Institut français de Turquie (Istanbul), the Villa Annie Ernaux is a newly established writing residency program that welcomes three authors each year for periods of up to eight weeks. As one of the Institute’s flagship initiatives, it extends its long-standing engagement in supporting writing, reading, translation, and publishing through collaborations with Turkish and international partners.

The residency offers a dedicated space for literary creation and exchange, fostering connections between francophone and Turkish writers while encouraging new forms of narrative dialogue. Beyond the clichés of East and West, the program positions Istanbul as a laboratory of contemporary writing, a place where stories, languages, and sensibilities meet.

Named after the Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, whose work on memory, identity, and social structures resonates strongly with Turkish readers, the residency aims to promote the mobility of writers and ideas, intercultural collaboration, and the creation of singular works at the intersection of multiple geographies and cultures.

Writers in residence are offered the opportunity to engage with local literary scenes, participate in public encounters, and develop new writing projects in a vibrant, cross-cultural context.

lou darsan

Born in Brittany (France) in 1987, Lou Darsan studied modern literature before working for several years as a bookseller in Brest and Paris. From 2017 to 2021, she lived a nomadic life across France and Europe — years that gave rise to her debut novel, L’Arrachée belle. Her second book, Les Heures abolies, was born from a long winter stay in northern Sweden.

Now based in Nantes, where her journeys eventually return, Darsan continues to explore themes of movement, solitude, and the delicate relationship between landscape and inner life. Her first novel was nominated for several awards, including the Prix du Premier Roman 2020 and the SGDL Révélation Prize.

During her upcoming writing residency, Lou Darsan will develop a literary project rooted in her recent four-month hitchhiking journey across Türkiye, from Slovenia to Georgia, through cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya, Cappadocia, Gaziantep, Mardin, and Kars. The experience, built on encounters and hospitality, forms the raw material for a new text intertwining travel journals, poetry, and reflection. Drawing from these notes, she aims to create a polyphonic narrative blending intimate storytelling with a documentary dimension, accompanied by a photographic series made in collaboration with the friend who shared the journey.