Leeuwarden City of Literature invited writer Eduard Olesti from Barcelona to live and work in the city for a month. Today part 1 of his diary as writer in residence.

Dear Leeuwarden,

I’m very thankful for your existence. I like your canals (even if it’s cold), I like your protestant dark protestant brick houses (even if the windows are so broad that I can peek into your intimacies) and I like your sky (is broad and diaphanous as we were trapped inside a lightbulb).

I’ve seen you raining, I’ve you shining, I even saw a rainbow (that was nice, thanks for that). I’ve walked you aimlessly and I get lost and I don’t know your boundaries. I’ve seen ducks and dogs and horses and trains. I imagined water trains through the canal, flying dogs up on the sky and biking Viking ducks.

I’m sorry if I haven’t understood you well enough. I’ve been hiding inside a room typing in an old computer drinking gallons of coffee. I’ve been writing in a language you may not understand. I’m writing something I can’t talk about because it’s a secret and that’s the thing with secrets: they distance you from others (please note that this is not necessarily bad).

Looking forward to hear from you!

Eduard

PS: By the way, nice boats pal.