La Maison Julien Gracq

Residency brief

The Maison Julien Gracq is an organization dedicated to literature, art and knowledge created in 2012. The idea was to comply with author Julien Gracq’s will stating that his family estate should become a place of work and rest for the contemporary authors. Today the estate is both a place to commemorate Julien Gracq’s work and a place of author-in-residence programs. It is composed of the family house renovated to accommodate the authors, a building named “Grenier à sel” open to visitors and several gardens.

The Maison Julien Gracq is dedicated to promoting literature for all. Each year, it organises various events, including events with the authors in residency, to encourage interest towards literature, the authors and the process of writing. The highlight of these events is the festival “Les préférences” organized every other year in September. Each edition has its theme but it is always linked with literature and geography as Julien Gracq himself was a writer and a geographer.

In 2023, the Maison Julien Gracq celebrated its 10-year anniversary. For all these years, the organization has welcomed authors in the calm and inspiring city of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, on the banks of the Loire River.

  • Thematic focus Literature
  • Location Saint-Florent-Le-Vieil (Pays de la Loire)
  • Dates 3 March 2026 - 28 March 2026
  • Length of stay 1 month

Our Space

Saint-Florent-le-Vieil is a village of 2900 inhabitants located in the beautiful Loire Valley, an hour away from Nantes and Angers.

Julien Gracq’s family house was built by his parents at the beginning of the 20th century. The large house was entirely renovated in 2012 and three apartments were constructed. Each has a living space with a kitchenette, a bedroom and a bathroom. In addition to the apartments, three rooms have been turned into offices overlooking the Loire River. Each author in residency can use one. On the ground floor, a shared kitchen with more equipment is accessible. Outside the house, a huge garden divided into several floors is freely accessible by the authors-in-residence. Bicycles are available to pace up and down the Loire River on what is called the “Loire à Vélo” trail, a 900-kilometre-long bike lane from the spring to the estuary of the river.

Jacinta Kerketta

Author and poet

By being in the Writer's Residency, I not only want to write but I also hope to have conversations and suggestions to help me improve my writing. Meeting and listening to other writers will also be good for my writing. Living in France and getting to know about the community and culture there can help me understand India and France comparatively. Some book suggestions can be helpful. This will be my first experience of writing while living in France, I am excited about it. I would like to return from here with the experiences of discipline towards writing, finding peace within myself and expanding my writing by connecting with the wider world.

Jacinta Kerketta is a poet, story writer, and freelance journalist belonging to an Oraon Adivasi community of West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand (India). She writes in Hindi.

So far, five of her poetry collections and one diary have been published. Some of her poetry collections have been translated into foreign languages like German, Italian, French, Spanish and many Indian languages too.

In 2014, she was given the Voice of Asia Recognition Award by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Thailand. She was a UNDP Fellow in 2014. In 2022, she is one of the 22 self-made women of India selected by Forbes India. In 2024, she received the Omega Resilience Award Fellowship in collaboration with two organizations, Commonweal of North America and START UP!. In 2025 The Vouge India has published her interview.

Past Laureates

Second Edition (2024 - 2025)
Rahul Bishnoi Playwright and Researcher