Skriverefugie / Writing-refugie

Kender du til begrebet refugie? Det er et sted for mennesker, der ønsker fred til at fordybe sig i et bestemt emne. Jeg synes selv, at ordet giver religiøse associationer, men det er ikke noget i den retning jeg har i tankerne.

Jeg vil gerne prøve et skriverefugie. Et sted med enkelhed og skrivero. Der findes steder i Danmark, som er indrettet til at arbejde koncentreret uden anden forstyrrelse, end den man selv skaber. Jeg ved, hvordan sådan et ophold kan bidrage progressivt til skriveprocessen. Opholdet skulle være ca. 3/4 inde i min skriveproces. Der, hvor et stort forarbejde er gjort, og dermed tid til at samle løse ender. Det grove indhold er valgt, men puslespillet endnu ikke lagt. Jeg vil som sagt gerne på skriverefugieophold en dag, og jeg tror, det kan blive til foråret.

Rent faktisk har jeg prøvet det flere gange, men under uformelle rammer. Den allerførste gang var for mange år siden i Italien, helt nede på Sicilien og oppe på det højeste punkt på øen. I korte træk rejste jeg alene derned og havde udset mig et sted, jeg troede var et vandrehjem, men mere var en forladt borg. En meget lille borg, men trods alt med et fladt tag og lav mur med kighuller i. Deraf min egen betegnelse borg. Hvorfor og hvordan jeg landede deroppe er en historie for sig selv, men det flade tag tæt på skyer og en bagende sol, blev mit skriverefugie i flere uger. Da jeg ankom en sen eftermiddag, var en amerikansk, ung pige ved at pakke en rygsæk. Hun rejste næste dag og herefter boede jeg alene i borgen, som var en bygning bygget af tykke sten, flisegulv og skodder for vinduerne. Et primitivt køkken, en sovesal og et toilet med en vandslange, der gik ud for brusebad, udgjorde indretningen. Jeg turde ikke låse toiletdøren af skræk for, at den gik i baglås. Jeg risikerede at sidde derinde i dagevis. Udenfor i gården kunne man også skylle sveden af sig under en hane. Efter at have spejdet ud over landsbyen fra det flade tag, og sikret mig at ingen var på vej op til mig, brugte jeg brusehanen udendørs.

Men dette sted blev som sagt et skriveophold. Med mig hjemmefra havde jeg en tyk, smallinjeret bog. Den var på tykkelse med 3-4 kinabøger. Du ved, de sorte med røde hjørner og ryg. Oppe på taget sad jeg på et håndklæde med ryggen op af muren og skrev. Skrev og skrev i flere timer om dagen. Skrev med pen og uden at redigere. Noget af det kan læses i bogen Hilsener, som kan købes på Saxo.com.

Af andre refugiesteder kan nævnes lånt sommerhus, en god vens lejlighed, mens han var ude at rejse, hemmeligt-arbejdssted-anno2019/2020. Som efteråret efterhånden indhyller os, har jeg fået lyst til at inddrage mit ekstra rum til skrivested. Sådan bliver det. Inhouse-refugie.

Billedet er taget i Panamakanalen. Jeg sejlede i Caribien og var her på vej op langs Amerikas vestkyst, helt op til Alaska. Det er samtidig forsidebilledet på bogen Hilsener, som indeholder 10 blandede historier. Hver gang jeg skænker Panamakanalen, Caribien og Alaska en tanke, får jeg lyst til at skrive rejsehistorier. Måske jeg hænger en opslagstavle op i mit nye inhouse-refugie. Den skal være til gode ideer, eller bare ideer.

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I haven’t recorrected the below text from Google translate, so please show kindness. 

Do you know about the concept of refugie? It is a place for people who want peace to immerse themselves in a particular topic. I myself think that the word gives religious associations, but it is not something like the direction I have in mind.


I’d like to try a writing refugie. A place of simplicity and writing. There are places in Denmark that are designed to work concentrated without any disturbance other than the one you create yourself. I know how such a stay can contribute progressively to the writing process. The stay should be about 3/4 inside my writing process. Where a lot of processing is done and thus time to assemble loose ends. The coarse content is selected, but the puzzle has not yet been laid. As I said, I’d like to go to writing one day, and I think it could be spring.


In fact, I have tried it several times, but under informal frameworks. The very first time was many years ago in Italy, right down in Sicily and up to the highest point on the island. In short, I travelled alone down there and had looked out for a place I thought was a hostel, but more was an abandoned castle. A very small castle, but after all, with a flat roof and a low wall with peepholes in. Hence my own term borg. Why and how I landed up there is a story unbearable, but the flat roof close to clouds and a baking sun, became my writing fugie for weeks. When I arrived one late afternoon, an American young girl was packing a backpack. She left the next day and then I lived alone in the castle, which was a building built of thick stone, tiled floors and shutters for the windows. A primitive kitchen, a dormitory and a toilet with a water hose that went out for showers, constituted the décor. I didn’t dare lock the toilet door for fear that it was deadlocked. I risked sitting in there for days. Outside in the yard, you could also wash off the sweat under a tap. After looking out over the village from the flat roof, and making sure no one was coming up to me, I used the shower tap outdoors.


But this place, as I said, became a writing session. With me from home, I had a thick, narrow-line book. It was at a thickness of 3-4. You know, the black ones with red corners and back. Up on the roof, I sat on a towel with my back up the wall and wrote. Wrote and wrote for several hours a day. Wrote with pen and without editing. Some of it can be read in the book Greetings, which can be purchased on Saxo.com.
Other places to borrow, a good friend’s apartment while he was traveling, secret-work-place-anno2019/2020. As autumn gradually envelops us, I’ve become inclined to include my spare space for writing. That’s the way it’s going to be. Inhouse refugie.


The picture was taken in the Panama Canal. I sailed in the Caribbean and was here on my way up the west coast of America, all the way up to Alaska. It is also the cover image of the book Greetings, which contains 10 mixed stories. Every time I give a thought to the Panama Canal, the Caribbean and Alaska, I want to write travel stories. Maybe I’ll hang up a bulletin board in my new in-house refugie. It has to be for good ideas, or just ideas.

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