Lucy Hounsom: "The residency at Vil·la Joana has made me grow as a person"

Creator of the best-seller Sistersong, which reimagines the popular ballad The Twa Sisters, British author Lucy Hounsom has recently decided to take the leap and devote herself fully to writing. And one of the first things she wanted to do was a literary residency. Her choice: the MUHBA Vil·la Joana, where she enjoyed a place reserved for authors living in other UNESCO Cities of Literature – in this case, Exeter – and she stayed from 29 May to 19 June. “It was my third visit to Barcelona, but the other two stays were very brief. Spending three quiet weeks there was wonderful,” says Hounsom, who during the residency finished the structural editing of her next novel, a historical fantasy entitled Song of the Huntress. “The text reimagines the myth of the wild hunt, it is a popular story that goes all over Europe, including Catalonia. It will be published at the beginning of 2024 by Pan Macmillan, and Umbriel Editores will publish it in Spanish by June 2024”, says the British author.

“Working on the terrace with views of Montserrat was one of the highlights of the stay! The residency was wonderful from beginning to end, and I feel that I grew as a person,” she says. Hounsom also highlights the fact that she was able to contact with other authors and go with them to different cultural activities and events. “I was very grateful to the coordinator for organising trips to the Museum of Ethnology and World Cultures. I visited the two venues and was able to talk about my interest in folklore and local customs with the staff. I also enjoyed a brilliant event at the Gigamesh bookshop to promote my novel Sistersong, where I was able to meet many Spanish-language readers. And I still had time to visit Girona, Llançà and Figueres”.

Lucy Hounsom is already thinking about another book for 2024, a historical fantasy set in medieval Wales based on the story of the popular ballad Tam Lin.

For more information about the residences at the MUHBA Vil·la Joana, click this link.