My participation at Faberllull - Literary Residency (Olot, Spain)

Photo taken at Faberllull - Artist Residency. November 2021, Olot, Spain. ©Agencia Talaia

 

SILENCE IS THE MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD: LITERARY RESIDENCE OF THE POET SANDRA SANTOS (PORTUGAL)

Living a literary, creative, artistic and cultural immersion experience in the beautiful Catalan city of Olot produces in me a state of deep gratitude, joy and emotion. It is a dream come true to have had the opportunity to get a scholarship at the Faberllull Olot residence and enjoy the wonderful stay at the Riu Fluvià Hotel and the unique, unforgettable landscapes of Olot. My heart is moved by such beauty. So much identification my being generated walking the autumnal streets with Christmas lights of magic Olot. With each step, with each glimpse, with each smell, with each conversation, my senses sharpen, and everything is saved to, later, become poetry. Such have been my days in this poetic retreat where silence is the conductor in this wonder of beauty. My literary project “My Spiritual Awakening” is taking shape as I discover myself in every detail, outline and horizon that life in Olot provides. The city is a well-kept secret among the mountains, just as we are amazed by the cycles of seasons, the movement of days and nights, so the divine Creation is amazed by the human Creation that we try to unite and extend through Art. As the Brazilian Elis Regina sang: “Living is better than dreaming”, and here, in Olot, living and writing are synonymous of dreaming.

Poetry reading at Cafè Art Fontanella XII. ©Personal archive

Along with the wonderful and generous Eduard Vallory, I had the opportunity to present to the Olot audience poems from my most recent book "Silente / En Silencio" (Brazil, 2021). I was warmly welcomed by those responsible for the iconic space Cafè Art Fontanella XII, with poems written by me being recited in different languages, such as Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish and English. Some participants were interested in asking me about my writing process, as well as my vision as a poet and translator of the different translations of my poems into other languages more or less distant from Portuguese, and how this influenced the sound, musicality and meaning of the poems themselves. It was an intimate and multilingual session in which the language that most united us all was, without any doubt, the silence.

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