That maybe a Sufi quote about dervishes, the whirling kind, of which I read about in To the Lake by Kapka Kassabova: “A precept of dervishism is renouncing possessions, surrendering to the Road.” The subtitle of her book is “A Journey of War and Peace” and, as she writes of her travels along the shores of Lake Orhid, north of the Prespes lakes, she recounts how wave upon wave of disruption, displacement and death that mark the recent history of these disputed parts of the Balkans and resonates across the entire region. Psarardes, the village hub for the Prespa Encounters of walking artists, bears witness to this troubled past in its altered name, abandoned buildings, and lakeside routes barred and guarded as military checkpoints.
While both lakes hold turbulent memories of the region’s past, their turquoise allure also inspires artists and writers alike.
it is surprising that a writers group had never formed on the shores of Prespa Lake over the last decade of walking artists’ Encounters, especially as Encounter artistic originator, Geert Vermeire, is a poet. Then again, within a few kilometres, past regimes in Albania and Northern Macedonia (formerly Yugoslavia), were executing poets, so perhaps it is wise that writers have been keeping a lower profile.
Undaunted by that history, American Ann de Forest initiated an informal gathering of walking writers at the 2025 Walking Arts Encounter. Curious how others approached writing about walking, she proposed a series of co-writing sessions. At a long table under the linden trees lining the main street of Psarades, looking out on the lake, the small group met, wrote together for 20 minutes about a recent walk, and then read what they’d written aloud.
Though the group scattered across the globe after the Prespa encounter, they have continued writing about walking together. They don’t meet online; instead, on the first Tuesday of every month, as synchronously as possible, participants sit down and write wherever in the world they happen to be.
Ann explains the process: “One participant provides a prompt. We set our timers for 20 minutes and write, then share our pieces — often accompanied by photos and recordings — via a lively, interactive Whats App thread.”
As Ann wrote: “Over the past year, the Walking Writers of Prespa have generated an impressive body of work. We’re excited to showcase what we’ve written and talk about our process, our sense of connection, and what the monthly invitation to write about walking has meant to all of us.”
On 6 July, 13 of the group were able to present their work, live at an online Showcase, which was set to start at an hour that was as convenient to each of the presenters, who came from as far away as Alberta, in Canada and Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. (Ironically, that meant midnight EEST, so the only people inconvenienced were those from Greece, including those close to the lake! Thankfully, there is a video recording you and they can watch.)
Many of the readings reflected the hybrid nature of walking art: Contributions included a song in English and Catalan, a reading enhanced with a soundscape and several others illustrated by photographs of journals and collages.
Moving chronologically through the year, we heard from:
- August 2025: ‘A walk taken since leaving Prespa,’Amy Tsilemanis (AUS)
- September: ‘A recent walk,’ Ann de Forest (US) and
- Katie Down (US)(recorded)
- October: ‘A walk of transitions,’ Annemarie Lopez (UK)
- November: ‘A walk with ghosts’ Viv Corringham (US/UK)
- January 2026: ‘Beginnings and Endings’ Lise Brenner (NL)
- February: ‘Separation and Unity’ Molly Wagner (US/AUS)
- March: ‘Follow what pulls you’ Tamsin Grainger (UK)
- April: ‘Walking in solidarity with Lebanon Mountain Trail’ Doerte Weig (ESP)
- and Sandra Cowan (CAN)
- May: ‘What is your water?’ Clara Gari (ESP)
- and Danae Zegers (NL/BEL)
- June: ‘A sonic walk’ Kel Portman (UK)
WALC’s aspirations are to support the University of Macedonia in establishing Prespa as a central hub in an international network of centres of walking art. Given the creative expressions of walking generated by the Walking Writers of Prespa, it seems only reasonable that writers and writing can now be included in any forthcoming centre.
APA style reference
Walking Arts & Local Communities (WALC) is an artistic cooperation project, co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe, starting in January 2024 for four years. With seven partners from five countries, WALC establishes an International Center for Artistic Research and Practice of Walking Arts, in Prespa, Greece, at the border with Albania and North Macedonia, backed up by an online counterpart in the format of a digital platform for walking arts.
WALC builds on the previous work of hundreds of artists and researchers already practicing Walking Arts as a collaborative medium, and having met at the significant previous walking arts events and encounters in Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and during online activities at walk · listen · create.
We acknowledge the support of the EU Creative Europe Cooperation grant program in the framework of the European project WALC (Walking Arts and Local Community).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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