Joya: AIR / Laurie Kemp / NED

“Joya: Air art residency is a magical place where poems start bubbling up at 4 a.m., your heart bursts into song upon seeing the sun set the sky aflame into a thousand glittering colours and the desert wind stills even the most over-active of minds. My writing residency was the perfect kickstart to writing my first novel.

I cried and ran and danced among the almond fields, and found inspiration, community and connection — to my inner muse, my fellow artists and Donna and Simon, Joya’s incredible hosts. ¡Nos vemos pronto, espero! Thank you for a fabulous time ♥️”

Laurie Kemp

Laurie holds a BA in Liberal Arts & Sciences and MSc is in Environmental Economics and additionally completed a year long course in Creative Writing, University of Amsterdam, 2017-2018

Meesterproef, Querido Academia, 2019-2020
Querido Academy is part of Querido, is a leading Dutch publishing house that admits up to 15 young authors per year to help them bring their ideas intro fruition and connect them to literary agencies.

Publication: The Octopus Woman, Voices of the Well, December, 2019 a magazine published by the Anima Mundi School, a learning and research center for the Feminine & the World Soul based on the psychology of Carl G. Jung.

Publication: Deliverance, Voices of the Well, December, 2022
Black-and-white drawings and corresponding poems detailing a year of loss, mourning and profound personal transformation.