Natalie Reese McCoy

2026 DISQUIET International Literary Program ✎

Muito, muito, muito obrigada to the DISQUIET International Literary Program for welcoming me to learn through workshops, readings, inspiring Fado Museums and performances, open mics, and so on in Lisbon, Portugal with open arms of shared sincerity and saudade.

Thank you to Jeff Parker, Scott Laughlin, Laura Breitenbeck, and every soul at DISQUIET and the Centro Nacional de Cultura for their care; also, to Desiree Bailey and Stefan Bindley-Taylor for a reverent poetry workshop, as well as the poets in it who were poems themselves, and selfless to lend their ears and voices for the sake of my poetry; of course, to Terri Witek, without whom I would never have wandered into the “well-ghosted” Fernando Pessoa Game workshop room, learned to listen to their lines and the transfigurations of writing; to the @stetsonhonors program, for the generous scholarship which made it possible to study abroad; and, lastly, to Colin and my family, who were my home amidst the newness of Portugal, and to God, who repeatedly silenced me into song with His beauty… Does He feel saudade for us, for all creation? 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Bem, Portugal and her people survived through literature. This program reminded me that literature is a form of survival. Mas, I must now write rather than solely reminisce. Eu te amo, DISQUIET!