Goga Literary Residency

The Goga Publishing House began to develop the Goga Literary Residency programme for domestic and international authors in 2008. Since 2014 the programme has had a permanent location – the writers’ residence in the heart of the old town of Novo mesto, right above Goga Bookshop. Its location enables direct contact with the town’s rich history and the local cultural community while offering artists-in-residence a peaceful working environment.

Residency international exchange

As Goga Publishing House is a part of several European networks, active in exchanging authors, works, and various residency opportunities, it also organises the exchange of Slovene authors to other residencies across Europe, for example, to Passa Porta (BE), LCB in Berlin (DE), Ty Newydd in Wales (UK), Arts Institute (CZ), Port Cetate (RO), Estonia Writers' Union House (EE), PEN BIH (BA), and many others.

Goethe Institute Residency

From 2015 up to 2018 the Goethe-Institut Ljubljana collaborated with Goga Publishing House in organising a 4-week residency once a year that was open to applicants who live and work in Germany and were professionally engaged in the field of literature (all literary genres). The selected applicants pursued their individual literary project and held public readings in Novo mesto and Ljubljana, thus becoming acquainted with the Slovene literary scene and cultural life.

Reading Balkans Residency

The "Reading Balkans" literary residence programme was a part of the project "South and East reaches West – digital platform for promotion of writers in post-conflict societies", co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Goga collaborated with literary organisations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. Innovative authors dealing with contemporary topics of reconciliation and the importance of dialogue to fight nationalism and intolerance were selected via open call. Three authors were hosted for 4 weeks in the residency in Novo mesto, where literary events were also organised in order to present the authors' work to the local public.

In 2018, the call was opened for Ukrainian authors: the Reading Balkans Board received 19 applications and selected the 3 applicants: Kateryna Kalytko for the residency in Novo mesto (Slovenia), Andriy Ljubka for the residency in Belgrade (Serbia) and Viktoria Khomenko for the residency in Skopje (Macedonia).