last updated: 5 January 2025

I think I was not yet in school when I built my first town, in the late seventies. I was worried about the threat of a nuclear war, and so I built an underground town where I and quite a group of people could stay safe. I remember a tunnel like hall where we all lived, and I recall climbing up a long, long ladder to see whether it would be safe again on the ground. There was this huge single tree in a desert-like space, but I don’t know whether we all went up there or not.

My first town – and then so many other things happened. Today, I think I should have studied town planning, architecture, landscape architecture, physics (always had a thing for physics and remember very little) and everything to do with nature, film and the brain. What a collection, but probably quite an accurate picture of what my mind enjoys most. Oh, and I’d like to learn some crafts. I have this wonderfully grumpy character in the easy town books, Roger, 72, who is a master of seven or eight crafts. Alice, the main character, gets to learn a bit of a craft in book 6, maybe I will, too.

The easy town story covers a period of seven years. Absolutely unrealistically, but it’s important for the story dynamics that the town is completed within a year. Even after that year, I kept building. And I remember laughing about myself because I would find yet another reason to add this or that building to the town.

Anyway, so much for a little warm up. The about me on this website focuses on writing. You can find more general insights on the Charlie Alice Raya website and some bits and pieces on all 14 project websites. Yes, I know 14 websites are a lot, but if you take the time to visit even a few of them, you’ll see that it actually makes sense to give each of those ideas and topics their own space.

sketch: Charlie Alice Raya
alice long blue
Luzin mirror by Charlie Alice Raya
rising, light dance, 2011, by Charlie Alice Raya
easy town books, icon