In Portugal, everyone goes naked, on and off the beaches. By this I mean that what I found at Disquiet were people, not writers, not speakers, not editors, not panels. Over two very potent weeks, I got a chance to see my colleagues up close for who they really were and not for their titles. I heard their work, broke Pao de Deus with them, and realized that there is something alarmingly honest about Disquiet’s mission: when the time and place are right, we writers become true to ourselves, both on and off the page. I realized wasn’t just among writers at Disquiet, I was among colleagues in a shared experience of discovery.

DISQUIETer Annie Liontas writes about her experiences in Portugal this summer for South85. Lots more over here.