17/06/2026
Dalloway Day, the annual celebration of Woolf’s landmark novel taking place over a Wednesday in mid-June, has arrived. This year, we are excited to announce the launch of a new nationwide initiative designed to provide female writers with uninterrupted time and space to work.
Conceived by and delivered in partnership with RSL Fellow Esther Freud, A Week of One’s Own will provide week-long residencies to professionally active women writers, supplemented with a small grant towards their expenses.
Esther Freud said: “When I was caring for my children, running a house and always, it seemed, attempting to finish a novel, I longed for nothing more than a quiet place to write. Not only that, but the permission, encouragement even, to spend a few days, maybe even a week, away from all distractions. This is why I’m setting up the initiative: A Week of One’s Own, to give women writers an opportunity to see what a little time and space might afford them.”
The first round of A Week of One’s Own residencies will take place in 2027, with applications opening later this year. Each residency will take place in a property provided by our generous hosts, who will volunteer a space available for the exclusive use of the writer throughout their stay.
We are hugely grateful to Esther Freud and to those who have already offered accommodation. If you are interested in offering support towards these residencies, either by providing a property or a donation towards writer’s grants, please contact [email protected].
