Three Catalan and three Polish essayists are currently gathered at the Faberllull residency to take part in the third edition of the International Residencies for Young Writers, organised by PEN Català. Until 9 June, they will be documenting and drafting their essays, participating in group work sessions, and attending a masterclass given by Catalina Gayà and Laia Seró. All six will reunite in February of the coming year for a stay at the Villa Decius residency in Kraków (Poland).
One of the outcomes of the residency will be a bilingual publication that includes translated excerpts from the participants’ works. This publication will be distributed among Catalan and European publishers with the aim of promoting their translation and publication into other languages. Additionally, the selected individuals will take part in a networking tour with translators and publishers to introduce their work.
The residents
The group comprises Mireia Ibáñez Cid (Tortosa), who is writing a collective narrative on death; Pit-roig Vinyals (Sabadell), who is working on a project about the loss of linguistic diversity; Arià Paco (Barcelona), whose focus is on new masculinities; Roland Hensoldt (Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland), who is studying the challenges facing journalism in a world dominated by Artificial Intelligence; Ula Idzikowska (Szczecin, Poland), who is researching the history of immigration to Poland; and Szymon Opryszek (Kraków, Poland), who is reflecting on Europe’s ideological shift with regard to certain socio-economic phenomena.
Activities with the Local Community
This Friday, at 6 p.m., Mireia Ibáñez will moderate a Death Café—a conversation about death—for attendees at the Casal de Sant Miquel in Olot. Next Monday, Arià Paco will lead a workshop for students of the creative writing course at the Municipal School of Expression in Olot.
Additionally, Roland Hensoldt has met with representatives of local media to discuss journalism and AI; Ula Idzikowska has spoken with staff at the Garrotxa Social Action Consortium about migration policy; and Pit-roig Vinyals will meet with two members of the Amazigh community residing in Olot.
