Become a scholarship holder in Leninland

Now there is the opportunity to become a writer in residence in a cultural free zone for writers with the heart on the left side.

Free thinking in a stimulating environment

In January 2023, the Leninland Foundation with Villa Ulyanov and Dacha Karl Marx opened its operations in Varberg. It is the hotel owner and initiator of Jan Myrdal’s big prize – the Lenin Award, Lasse Diding, who has created this cultural free zone for free-thinking writers and journalists on the left. You can come here to work and rest in a stimulating environment for periods of two to four weeks and always with arrival and departure on Sundays. There are two scholarship accommodations, the detached Dacha Karl Marx and Krupskaya’s bedroom located in Villa Ulyanov, with the possibility of staying 1-2 people in each.

What is Leninland?

Leninland is a kind of cultural free zone for writers and journalists and consists of several independent villas and dachas, where in addition to the guest rooms there are also common areas in the form of a library, kitchen, music lounge, garden bar, billiards, table tennis room and gazebo for meditation and nicotine. The large Villa Ulyanov is the heart of Leninland and here are the majority of all common areas. This is where we eat, play music, and discuss. The villa was built as a wholesale dealer’s villa in 1925, the year after Lenin’s death, and was designed by the well-known architect Allan Berglund, who also designed Varberg’s beautiful bathhouse. The whole complex in Italian style is surrounded by its large lush garden and is located on a cliff facing the sea in central Varberg with a wonderful view of the Kattegatt and Varberg’s fortress.

How do you become a scholarship holder?

To have the opportunity to become a scholarship holder, you send in an application with a brief account of what you have written and worked on so far and also a few words about which writing project(s) you wish to work on in Leninland. Of course, you do not have an obligation to account for these projects of yours, but we still hope that you will want to tell us about your writing at the joint dinner we usually organize. We wish to create an environment with the opportunity to work both in private and with certain elements of social/cultural togetherness, a balance that is controlled entirely by the scholarship holders themselves. The selection of scholarship recipients is made by the foundation’s managers.

Costs and other practical things

All scholarship holders and any companions pay SEK 100 per day for their stay, and this is paid no later than two weeks before arrival. Free bed linen and towels are included. After the end of the stay, however, you are responsible for thorough cleaning of your own accommodation. For a low fee, you can also use the Lenin spa at Hotel Gästis and Hemingway’s spa at Hotel Havanna or visit and work in the Jan Myrdal Library with its 50,000 books, owned by the Jan Myrdal Society, free of charge. All this is within easy walking distance and there is also the possibility to borrow bicycles.

Good to know if you are allergic to fur animals is that there is a cat living in Villa Ulyanov.

Application

The application for 2024 is now closed, but sometimes we get cancellations, so it is possible to contact us in 2024 with an inquiry about any free weeks.

Send your application with three ranked alternatives with proposals for the period you wish to stay in Leninland and attach the record of your writing. For the three alternatives, the exact arrival and departure dates (arrival and departure only take place on Sundays, with arrival at 15-17) must be specified for the application to be considered. Please note that for 2025 it is only possible to apply for 12 January to 1 June and 31 August to 14 December. Also state your email address, home address, mobile phone number and whether you are coming alone or have someone with you. The applications for residencies in 2025 must reach us by 30 November at the latest.

Address:
The Leninland Foundation
Slottsgatan 18
432 44 Varberg

E-mail:
info@leninland.se

We accept applications via both snail mail and email!

Welcome with your application!