Ellen Savage: "I will remember my stay at Vil-la Joana for a long time"

She arrived in Barcelona with a manuscript full of empty spaces and left with a lively, stimulating and inspiring project, still with some gaps, but very advanced. This is what the Australian Ellen Savage, author of 180 essays, poems and short stories in journals such as The Paris Review, Sydney Review of Books, The Guardian and Literary Hub, explains. She took up her literary residency at MUHBA Vil·la Joana last May, and the aim was to work on a new novel, Mummy, where the main character is a Catalan migrant in Australia who believes he is one of the lost children of the Franco regime. She was so satisfied with the experience that she says: “I will remember my stay at Vil-la Joana for a long time”.

Author of the Blueberries collection of essays and finalist for the Victoran Premier’s Literary Award, Savage says that the location and facilities of the house where Jacint Verdaguer spent his last years gave her everything she needed to reflect on her project and also to think about new literary challenges. Moreover, she found it very useful to share spaces with other authors: “I always learn from others, and often a timely book recommendation can help to solve a problem in a manuscript; this is what happened to me in Vil-la Joana”. She also appreciates that the hosts of the MUHBA guide the residents through the history of Catalan literature and she was surprised by the great presence of books and authors in the city.

More information about the residences at MUHBA Vil-la Joana, at this link.