On Saturday 17 May, the first text was revealed of the 100-day project Small Delights organised by Leeuwarden UNESCO City of Literature. The text is ‘Tu es là?’, and comes from the short story ‘L’infini’ (The Infinite) by Franco-Korean author Elisa Shua Dusapin. Artist Machiel Braaksma designed the lettering and installed it at the Observeum in Burgum. During the night of 16 to 17 May, the text was unveiled at the observatory, officially marking the start of the project.
Throughout Arcadia, Leeuwarden City of Literature is releasing a literary text each day in Fryslân. It could be an extract or a complete story and each day’s full text will be available to read from 12 noon on kleingeluk.frl. The website already gives the names of the 100 authors working on the project, though the rest is all about surprise. The contributors include 40 writers from Fryslân, 33 from elsewhere in the Netherlands, 9 from Flanders, 12 from fellow Cities of Literature and 6 other international authors.
Framing wonder
The writers were asked to create a piece about little moments of wonder. In these times of great suffering in the world, Leeuwarden City of Literature wanted to explore everyday pleasures that bring us comfort and joy and bring them together for the project. The authors could choose their own form, be it a story, poem, essay or comic. Adding to the sense of delight, the way the text appears is also a surprise, with the organisation working on this with artists, graphic designers and a range of small and large partners. Anyone signing up for the Small Delights mailing list will receive a daily update about the new text and a clue about the location of the following day’s text.
Small Delights performances
One thing the organisation can already reveal is that Small Delights will feature at a number of literary events, including Dichter op de Deel (Sun 25 May), Hoge Woorden (Fri 30 May), the literary afternoon in the Tripgemaal (Sun 10 August) and during the finale of Bouwurk (Sun 24 August). In addition, Delayed Happiness, Leeuwarden City of Literature’s previous Arcadia project, will return for one more evening with a public reading taking place on Thursday 10 July at 7.30 pm in the Beammetún It Boukeboskje in Wijckel.
Pictures: Lucas Kemper
Pictures of the opening. After Rommert Dijk, chairman of the Observeum, spoke beautiful words about his little happiness, Ernst Bruinsma, our director, told about the history of this new project during Arcadia. Then artist Machiel Braaksma told a striking and funny story about his search for the best place for the first text, a short quote by Elisa Shua Dusapin. Machiel and Slovenian writer Pia Prezelj, currently in residence in Leeuwarden, then unveiled the text. A toast and the reading of the Dutch translation of Dusapin’s text completed this festive kick-off.
