Philipp Herold: "Vil·la Joana has been my first literary residence, and I have had a great experience"

Founder of the project 7 Tage 7 Gedichte (7 Days 7 Poems) and member of the collective Verschwende deine Lyrik!, Philipp Herold has twice been German runner-up in the Poetry Slam and in 2018 he published his first collection of poems, entitled Alles zu seiner Zeit (Everythins in its Own Time). Last spring, he spent three weeks in Barcelona, specifically at the MUHBA Vil·la Joana, to develop a literary residency there. “It was my first writers’ residency, and a great experience for me”, he says, adding that the fact that Vil-la Joana is surrounded by woods and at the same time so close to “the vibrant life of Barcelona” was “the perfect inspiration” for his creative work. A task that consisted of translating one of his spoken poems into Spanish, writing a new one in German and Spanish, and write ten short poems and a song.

The author of Heidelberg explains that he still had time to visit Sagrada Família, MACBA, CCCB and Liceu, as well as to go and listen to a poetry performance in Catalan, go to the Latin American Literature Festival and enjoy a Music Jam Session together with a local poet of the spoken word. “It had been 15 years since I last visited Barcelona, and once again I loved it! The culture, the food, the people, the atmosphere… I have to come back soon”, he exclaims.

Now in his hometown, Herold is finishing his new book of poems and is planning future performances with the Verschwende deine Lyrik! collective. Find out more about this resident author in this link.