This exciting residency in Barcelona UNESCO City of Literature aims to promote literary creation and foster exchange with other centres and creators from around the world.

Manchester writer Tom Branfoot has been selected by a committee to create new work at Vil·la Joana in June and July and take part in literary activities around the region.

Tom Branfoot is a poet and critic from Bradford, and the writer-in-residence at Manchester Cathedral. His poetry has been described by Fran Lock as possessing a “mercurial intelligence that alchemizes everything it touches”. Branfoot’s work is archival, enigmatic and interested in the connections between nature and politics. The common thread running through his poetry is the question of how we can imagine the world differently. Awards include a Northern Writers’ Award in 2024 and the New Poets Prize 2022. In 2025, he was awarded an Arts Council Develop Your Creative Project grant to work on a novel in progress and was a finalist for the Forward Prize for best individual poem. 

Branfoot is the author of three poetry pamphlets : I’ll Splinter, This Is Not an Epiphany, and boar . His debut full-length collection, Volatile , is forthcoming from The 87 Press . He organises and presents the More Song poetry reading series in Bradford, which has served as a platform for internationally renowned poets as well as championing local talent. 

The residencies, aimed at writers and translators from outside Catalonia and of any nationality, offer stays in a beautiful villa: Vil·la Joana, in Vallvidrera, one of the sites of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona and the place where the poet Jacint Verdaguer spent his final years. The 2026 edition includes eight residency periods, with a maximum of three residents per session, who will have accommodation, workspaces, and a programme of activities to connect with the city’s literary network.

Tom says, “I’m beyond chuffed to be chosen for the Vil·la Joana Literary Residency in Barcelona. It’ll be a privilege to spend three weeks in Vil·la Joana responding to the work of Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies. I feel a kinship with this painter who considered his work a ‘gesture of revolt’ and translated his time into fierce forms. Thanks to everyone at Barcelona City of Literature for this opportunity.”

Find out about all the Writers in Residence with Tom via the link below.