Morelle Smith | UK Scotland

Introduction: 

Morelle Smith is a writer, editor, translator, and educator whose career spans adult education, literary translation, and international cultural engagement. With a background in teaching languages and creative writing, she has worked extensively in the UK and the Balkans, including Albania. Her editorial and translation work includes literature from across Eastern Europe, and she has collaborated with institutions such as the Centre for Albanian Studies, Istros Books, and Bibliotheca Universalis. A former committee member of Scottish PEN, Morelle has published widely in international journals and participated in residencies and literary events throughout Europe. Her multilingual skills and cross-cultural focus reflect a deep commitment to literary exchange and human rights.

Portfolio:

https://rivertrain.blogspot.co.uk

Photos:

Project

My project is narrative writing about the life of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Swiss writer and traveller. I intend to write about different periods of her life, but in the residency I will focus on her travel through the Baltic States in 1937. As well as a fiction and travel writer Annemarie was also a photo-journalist. In what she called ‘little encounters’, she had conversations with students, bartenders, agricultural workers, doctors etc. to find out what people felt about the political situation in Central and Eastern Europe, and to document the rising tensions and divisions in society.

Annemarie Schwarzenbach

I will look at her impressions, ‘following in her footsteps’ bringing in historical background and descriptions of the physical landscape. But I will also be writing about my own experiences, comparing and contrasting hers with my own: Landscape and more recent history, as well as urban architecture and cultural changes. 

While there are many obvious differences between Annemarie’s time and the present day, there are also similarities, around the uncertainty of the future. In my work as in my life, while I note the transience of aspects of human life and society, I look to what is unchanging (or very little) in terms of landscape, oceans, and skies.

I would welcome the chance to meet with Lithuanian writers, to discuss their work, views and memories. 

Morelle Smith