The woman at the vegetable stall, who has a kind and welcoming way about her, and always gives you celery, gave us a mandarin yesterday. One for vegetables and one for cured meat and sausages. That said, I’ve also been swimming, reading, walking, I learned to fish for urchins and eat limpets straight from the sea and I’ve met some locals, mostly by going for beers at one of the only two bars in town, run by a Belgian woman who makes little meatballs and amazing chips. Working from here has allowed me to really take a deep dive, and live somewhat inside my current project. The north wind that did pay a visit – just showing the little pinky toe of its devastating potential – has been almost entertaining. They warned us that, being so exposed, the north wind would be terrible, but it’s been a fairly tame winter. I’ve never had the sea before me for such a long time. I’m writing to you from a little house with a very large balcony overlooking the sea. Their correspondence was translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem. They wrote to each other over the winter of 2022, discussing friendship, the sea and living inside novels. She is also the author of a book of poems, Bèstia, which was awarded the Amadeu Oller Poetry Prize and was published in English as Beast, and Els dics, which won the Documenta prize. Irene Solà’s novel When I Sing, Mountains Danceis published by Granta Books, in translation from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem. She is also the author of over ten books of poetry. Boulderis forthcoming in August 2022 from And Other Stories, while Mamut ( Mammoth) was published in Catalan in 2021.

An excerpt of Permafrostfeatured in Granta 154: I’ve Been Away for a While.

Eva Baltasar is the author of a trilogy of novels, which are being translated by Julia Sanches.

Eva padlock monk