About Gothland Residency
Every artist is haunted by something: An unanswered question. A half-finished novel. A landscape that lingers long after you've left it. Gothland Residency was created for those moments.
We are a curated network of winter artist retreats in Östergarnslandet, Gotland. By partnering with local property owners, we match writers, artists, photographers and other creative practitioners with thoughtfully selected homes where they can live and work for one to three months. The residency is designed to foster creativity during Gotland's quietest season while creating opportunities for meaningful connections between international artists and the island's culturally engaged local community.
For answers to commonly asked questions, visit our FAQ page.
Shannon Renée Miller
Founder
I’m Shannon, a fiction writer and founder of Gothland Residency. I moved from the USA to Gotland, Sweden, in 2025 to build an artistic community in my favorite part of the world. With an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and over two decades working in publishing, marketing and the creative industries, I’m excited to share my vision with artists from around the globe.
While traveling around Scandinavia and staying at artist residencies, I became fascinated by the relationship between place and the creative process. What I discovered was that a location can do more than inspire. It can reshape the way you look at your environment and yourself.
What I now know: Some places are simply beautiful. Others quietly haunt you.
Gotland is one of those places. It’s where the boundaries between landscape, imagination and creative inspiration begin to blur, and where the ordinary world feels just a little more mysterious.
I often say that I didn't choose Gotland — it chose me. Naming it Gothland Residency felt like honoring that experience. The added “h" is a playful nod to the gothic imagination and to the kinds of places that lure us with possibility.