Carolina Cobelo: "The residency was like a suspension of space-time in a dreamlike place"

The last round of the Vil·la Joana literary residencies in 2023 was occupied by Violaine Bérot from France and Carolina Cobelo from Argentina. The latter set foot in Barcelona for the first time, and was fascinated by the city: “As a Latin American, I have to say that the first week I was literally in awe the whole time. Barcelona is a very easy city to live in, very genuine and friendly and without any kind of adversity. For any Latin American, that is, if nothing else, invigorating”. She did the residency to prepare her third novel, and defines the experience with the words “exceptional, wonderful and different”. She adds: “I loved living in a huge, beautiful house, like a fairy tale, or elves, on a mountain, and seeing all the sunsets reflected in Montserrat. And the most amazing thing: to live in a place that has the atmosphere of a museum with a bell tower-clock. It was a suspension of space-time in a dreamlike place”.

Her stay coincided with the Mercè festivities, a fact that further enhanced her feelings of the city, since, she explains, “popular and traditional cultural events are the ones I feel most deeply about”. She also took advantage of the three weeks of residence to visit bookshops and discover some parts of the city with local writers.

About the novel she is writing, she tells us that it is about a boy who is cursed with all kinds of evil and finds himself in a different world -perhaps an alien one- with a man who is called the Ocult -a mysterious character- who guides him through this strange world. Together they search for the way to cure the child’s curse, although no one knows for sure what the way or the remedy is.

For more information about Vil·la Joana residencies, click here.