What stands out on an otherwise ordinary day? What is going right between all those things that are going wrong? What remains the same, even when everything else seems to be changing?
Leeuwarden UNESCO City of Literature is collecting 100 literary texts for Small Delights, texts about those moments when you look differently at what’s in front of you. Share with us the wonder that can suddenly take you by surprise, and describe the small delights that colour your day, the fragments of happiness that are there for the taking.
Which small (un)exceptional things deserve a bigger story? – which by the way does not have to be a big story at all, but can also be a shorter text, poem, dialogue, comic, song, or reflection.
- deadline for submitting texts: Sunday November 10th
- any language and any literary genre allowed
- your text consists of a maximum of 1500 words
During the 100 days of the Frisian cultural triennial Arcadia in the summer of 2025, City of Literature will make public one of these new texts each day in a different, surprising way – thus providing daily delights and small wonders that can happen at any moment. Small Delights is the sequel to Happiness Delayed (2022), and further investigates where we can find brightness in our lives, what the small joys are that we can hold on to in desperate times.
Submissions
Submit your text via this form. When submitting, you will be asked for your name, place of residence, date of birth and any writing experience.
A selection will be made from the submitted texts based on quality, originality and diversity. You will hear by 1 December 2024 at the latest whether your text has been selected. In case of doubt, preference will be given to writers who have not been selected for Happiness Delayed in 2022.
Selected writers become part of the project and, like all other participating writers, receive a fee of 700 euros. Writers who participate give permission to publish their text via Leeuwarden UNESCO City of Literature’s own channels and those of the project’s partners.
Small Delights is a project of Leeuwarden UNESCO City of Literature and is part of Arcadia 2025.
If you have any questions about this call, please contact Tryntsje van der Steege, project coordinator Small Delights (Klein geluk), kleingeluk@leeuwardencityofliterature.nl.
