One of our goals is to make literature more accessible. We do this by placing literary benches in various locations in Friesland. Here literature and visual arts come together in a way that suits the place. With the benches, residents and visitors are surprised with poetry in an accessible way.
In 2022, Leeuwarden UNESCO City of Literature developed its first bench, commissioned by the Municipality of Leeuwarden. This bench is part of the Speaking Stones project. On 16 April 2025, five new benches were unveiled. We created these on behalf of the province of Friesland and in collaboration with the Municipality of Noardeast-Friesland, the Municipality of Waadhoeke, the Municipality of Leeuwarden, the Municipality of Heerenveen and the Municipality of Súdwest-Friesland.
On this page you can read more about the five latest benches: the location, the bios of the visual artist and the poet/writer involved and the poem that you can read on the bench. All information is available in Dutch, Frisian and English. You can read more about the previous bench here.
You can find the locations of the literary benches also on our map.
