A decade later - Fundação Luso-Americana

DR
It’s been nine years, so José Luís Peixoto’s
memory is not standing up to my third
degree. In 2002, he was the first Portuguese
writer to take advantage of the Ledig House’s
residency program, as part of an initiative
sponsored by the General Directorate for
Books and Libraries (Portuguese acronym
DGLB). He’s a man with a full plate, but I
persisted and he took the time to answer
via e-mail: “I remember a house surrounded
by beautiful scenery with all the colors
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cuLTure
The writing retreat
Since 1992, Ledig House writers-in-residence program has hosted hundreds
of creative writers from around the world. At this idyllic colony in the Hudson valley,
authors and translators find the ideal setting and the time
to put their brightest ideas on paper.
By cArLA mAiA de ALmeidA
of autumn.” The memories return. “And I
remember the dinners, the times we were
all together and how we ended up sharing
a bit of what we were doing. And then there
was my room, where I spent most of the
time writing.”
The house, the long stretches of time,
the interpersonal experiences. Nine years
after Ledig House, José Luís Peixoto talks
about the three most important things he
recalls, like the other writers, as we will
Ledig House with its lush lawn, overlooking the Hudson valley.
soon see. “Mainly I remember the people
I got to meet,” he adds. “Ali Smith, the
Scottish writer, who I’m still in touch
with, and Ellen Miller from the US who
passed away at such a young age.” He
doesn’t remember the routine or the
methodical passing of the eight weeks he
worked on the draft of Cemitério de Pianos
(The Piano Cemetery), the novel he would
finish four years later. “I can’t even
remember what the most productive phase
Parallel no. 6 | FALL | WINTER 2011