citybooks Utrecht started on the 1st of April 2010 when South-African author and dramaturge Brink Scholtz took up residence in this city. Jeroen Olyslaegers stayed in Utrecht as of the end of May. Poet Astrid Lampe, a citizen of Utrecht, and poet and translator Onno Kosters who works at the University of Utrecht, poetically explored Utrecht. Davide Longo spend part of the summer in The Netherlands. He stayed from the 15th till the 30th of July in Utrecht and travelled subsequently to Amsterdam to stay there in residence on invitation of the Nederlands Letterenfonds.
Photographer Lisa van Damme joined up with bus drivers which resulted in an extraordinary photo series. Whilst Ronald Giebel made the City One Minutes: twenty-four short films of one minute each, illustrating the 24 hours in a day.
This year (2013) Utrecht celebrates 300 years of The Peace of Utrecht. But not only this year of festivities remembers of that historic event Utrecht itself is a city that works hard to keep this past alive. The Peace of Utrecht brought not only peace and prosperity to Utrecht but to a large part of Europe as well. Already 300 years ago Utrecht promoted respectful dialogue and (religious) tolerance, because they realised it would be beneficiary for everyone, and that is still true today. Utrecht is young, diverse and vibrant, but most of all a peaceful city.
The residencies were made possible with the collaboration of the Stichting de Vrede van Utrecht (VvU) and the Stichting Literaire Activiteiten Utrecht (SLAU).
Utrecht
Utrecht is a city that is both young and old and a city that keeps its past alive and not only by preserving it in museums but even more so by reintegrating this past in everyday live. With three universities Utrecht has many young inhabitants living in a city with a marvellous historical centre.
