Depuis trente ans, la Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs de Saint-Nazaire accueille en résidence des écrivains étrangers et des traducteurs du monde entier. Elle leur alloue une bourse et met à leur disposition un grand appartement au dixième étage du Building, au-dessus du port et des Chantiers navals.

Elle organise chaque année des rencontres littéraires internationales "meeting" et remet trois prix littéraires : le Prix Laure-Bataillon de la meilleure œuvre de fiction traduite en français dans l’année, le Prix Laure-Bataillon classique et le Prix de la Jeune Littérature latino-américaine.

Chaque année, elle publie la revue littéraire internationale meet et plusieurs livres bilingues.

Residencies
The "Meet" welcomes one writer or translator at a time for four to eight weeks. The resident is allocated a weekly grant and accommodated in a large two-bedroom flat in the "Building", an emblematic high-rise overlooking the docks and the shipyards of Saint Nazaire Harbour, on the Loire River estuary. At the end of his/her stay, the resident is given the opportunity to have one of his works and its French translation published in the Meet's collection "Les Bilingues".

The writers and translators who wish to apply must send a biographical as well as a bibliographical note. Every application is considered by The Meet's literary council, a body of writers, translators and critics.

Saint Nazaire is a middle-size town located in the south of Brittany, on the Loire River estuary. It's only two and a half hours away from Paris by high-speed train. The nearest airport is Nantes Atlantique.

Literary prizes
The Meet organizes regular meetings with writers and translators and awards three literary prizes. The prix Laure-Bataillon rewards both the writer of a fictional work and his or her translator The prix Laure-Bataillon classique rewards the translator of a classical work. The prix de la jeune litérature latino-américaine - is awarded every other year, each time in a different South American country. It aims at honouring and publishing a young Latino writer selected by a jury of writers in his own country.

Every year the Meet asks about twenty writers from different countries to contribute a few pages on a literary topic. Their texts are then translated into French and published in a bilingual edition.

SELECTION A LIRE... Georg AESCHT Damien Aubel Pour Cortazar Anne Carol Rania Samara Miguel A. Campodónico (vidéo) Serge FAUCHEREAU Laura RESTREPO Panama Antonio Tabucchi Shumona Sinha Sergio Chejfec L’équipe Extrait Ion POP Michael Donhauser Carlos Franz Arménie Thea Rimini Erri De LUCA Yiğit Bener Rutger Kopland Giancarla de Quiroga Véronique Brindeau Marcos Siscar Juozas APUTIS (vidéo) Alan Duff Argentine Eduardo HALFON José MUNOS MILLANES Angola Extrait Gerd-Peter EIGNER Mauro Covacich Bosnie-Herzégovine CA NE VEUT PAS RIEN DIRE / 2012 Mona Ozouf Gabriel Josipovici Mario FORTUNATO (Italie) Arno Bertina Stefan Agopian 1994 / Nedim GÜRSEL Jila Mossaed (Suède) Rosita COPIOLI (vidéo) Caroline Sagot-Duvauroux Jean-Durosier DESRIVIERES Maurice Lemoine Suède Lars Bo Jean-Durosier Desrivières 2010 / Hubert KLIMKO Littératures du Rio de la Plata Bernard Simeone Camille Loivier Jean-Luc Coatalem Rutger Kopland 1990 / Juan Carlos MONDRAGON Ana Paula Tavares Claire MALROUX Bosnie-Herzégovine MAHMOUD TAWFIK Ahmad al-Aidy Bruno Grégoire Pierre Karila-Cohen Lisa Bresner Anne Serre Extrait revue meet n°10 Charif Majdalani 1993 / Petr KRAL Shaïn Sinaria Gerald Prince Anne Sennhauser