Apply for a Writer's Residence at the Mall of America

Many writer’s retreats provide a respite from the hustle and bustle of the world, offering private time (often with famous instructors) to work in remote, beautiful places. For writers who aren’t inspired by incredible natural vistas, though, there are other options. Like, for instance, spending five days inside the Mall of America.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the opening of the country’s biggest mall, the Mall of America is looking for a writer-in-residence. According to the Mall:

"The Writer-in-Residence Contest will give a special scribe the chance to spend five days deeply immersed in the Mall atmosphere while writing on-the-fly impressions in their own words. The contest winner will stay in an attached hotel for four nights, receive a $400 gift card to buy food and drinks, and collect a generous honorarium for the sweat and tears they’ll put into their prose."

The winner will spend every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the mall, working from his or her assigned desk for at least four hours a day.

Bill Pugliano/Liaison

The work of the writer-in-residence will be submitted to a mall representative at least three times a day, and approved musings will appear on a large monitor in the writer’s workspace. In return for their labor, in addition to the lodging and food allowance, the chosen wordsmith will get a $2500 honorarium.

Hopeful chroniclers of mall life will need to submit a 150-word pitch describing how they would approach their time as writer-in-residence. Twenty-five of those applicants will make it on to the next stage of the contest and will submit a 500- to 800-word essay about their story idea.

Apply here if dining on Wetzel's Pretzels and writing odes to flash sales is your idea of literary heaven.