De to forfatterne er for tiden stipendiater ved Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia (https://www.villa-concordia.de) i Bamberg, Tyskland.
Hvert år siden 1997 har seks kunstnere fra Tyskland og seks kunstnere fra et annet land (to bildende kunstnere, to komponister og to forfattere) blitt invitert til et elleve måneders stipendiat ved Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia. De siste årene har stipendiatene kommet bl.a. fra Frankrike, Tsjekkia, Ungarn, Nederland, Canada, Polen, Skottland, China, Portugal, Island, Sveits, Russland og Spania. Herta Müller var stipendiat her i 2008, året før hun mottok Nobelprisen i litteratur.
Kunstnerne velges av et kuratorium underlagt kulturministeren i Bayern, Dr. Ludwig Spaenle. Stipendet er følgelig ikke mulig å søke på.
I invitasjonen heter det: «The stipend is to be received as an award for artistic excellence and achievements in the field of either literature, music or fine arts.» Videre står det: «You were chosen as one of the outstanding ambassadors of your profession by the members of the board of trustees, established by the Bavarian state Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts … I am delighted that these Fellowships, provided by the Free State of Bavaria, contribute to the exchange of ideas between artists nationally and internationally and make collaborative projects possible. The International House of Artists Villa Concordia offers the ideal setting for inspired cooperation».
I 2015 ble seks kunstnere fra Norge invitert. Arild Vange og Torild Wardenær er dermed de eneste norske forfatterne som har fått gleden og æren av å bli invitert til denne unike institusjonen som tilbyr et stipendium på 1500 euro i måneden, og et boopphold for de inviterte på nesten et år. Under dette oppholdet arbeider begge med nye diktmanuskripter samtidig som de begge blir oversatt til tysk.
Om de norske prisvinnerne skriver juryen:
Arild Vange was born in 1955 and is a poet, artist and translator. He started to study economics but did not complete a degree. He was active in the Punk and New Wave movements. Arild Vange’s first novel "Ene og Alene" was published in 1990. He spent many years in Germany and lived in the honorary writer’s residence "Adrianstua" belonging to the city of Trondheim, Norway 2008 – 2013. Vange has written several critically acclaimed books of poetry. His book of poems from 2010, annerledes enn (otherwise than), is translated into German and published at Yara Edition, Graz (2012). His translations include the work of Franz Kafka, Georg Trakl, Peter Waterhouse, Yoko Tawada, Thomas Kling and Anja Utler. He collaborates regularly with musicians including Lemur, En En En and Neil Davidson. 2012 the improvisation company DVELL was formed around the long standing collaboration between Vange and Davidson. Vange is also working together with the visual artist Per Formo. www.arildvange.no und www.dvell.no
Torild Wardenær was born in Norway in 1951. At the universities of Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger she studied Education and Art History and holds a Masters Degree in Contemporary Literature. Her literary works include essays and dramas as well as interdisciplinary projects with musicans and visual artists. "The Pioneer Time" (1994), the first of nine volumes of poetry – most recent is "Password: Kairos" (2013) – received the Aschehoug Publishing House’s debut prize. More honors followed, including the Halldis Moren Vesaas Award for "The Drift of Days and Nights" (1997), and nominations for the renowned Brage Prize for "zero point two lux" (1995) and "psi" (2007). She has been an Artist in Residence and won fellowships awards at Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain), Hawthornden Castle (Scotland), International House of Literature (Belgium) and Djerassi (California, USA). In 2014 she received the prestigious Dobloug Prize from the Swedish Academy. www.torildwardenaer.no