Lindi Dedek

What was your favorite book as a child?

That's an easy one — Pippi Longstocking or pretty much everything by Astrid Lindgren.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

First there was an obsession — I compulsively read every book I could find in the local library (that was when the internet wasn't such a thing). Then, when I was 12, my best friend asked me to start a school magazine with her — and we published several editions and even made some money. We abandoned the magazine project, but I stuck with writing pretty much all the way through high school. Later I entered film school to get my writer's block, but I kept the book obsession that eventually got me to writing again.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

I'm tempted to say something that will make me sound like a well-rounded person (but also as a bit of a smug), something like showing up for myself daily and choosing to make art within, despite the pressure of making a living in the capitalist market. Or I could tell you about going to study full-time at a clown school in France but that will only happen next month — I'm certainly thrilled and terrified. I also know that my younger self hitchhiked in Kashmir alone. The university self once went to an airport directly from a pub, without any luggage and bought the first, cheapest one-way flight (I woke up in Mallorca, that's where the story stops being interesting).

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I have these beautiful lengthy Spotify playlists of instrumental jazz (for when I day-dream about New York) and feminist techno (when I think Berlin). If I remember the existence of these carefully curated playlists, I switch between the two back and forth only to begrudgingly remember that I only like writing in silence. Silence! Or maybe, sometimes, only sometimes, the chatter of strangers in a cafe (is that even music?).