Video: Brussels International: New Voices
About a third of all people living in Belgium are of foreign origin or have another nationality. Moreover, never before has our country hosted more writers who have left their original homelands. Passa Porta wants to give these ‘new literary neighbours’ more visibility in its current ‘Brussels International’ programme, thus supporting them in their search for the broader readership they most certainly deserve.
On the occasion of the online edition of its biennial literary festival in March 2021, Passa Porta gave the floor to a first series of currently Belgium-based foreign authors who can’t wait for you to discover them and read, translate or even publish their work.
Here you can watch the two festival presentations featuring Barrack Rima (Lebanon), Grażyna Plebanek (Poland) and Zuher Karim (Iraq) in Part One, followed by Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (Italy/Somalia), Hosheng Ossi (Syria/Kurdistan) and Monem Mahjoub (Lybia) in Part Two. All writers read an excerpt from their recent work in their own literary language, with Dutch and French subtitles. They are introduced to you by the Polish-Belgian writer and philosopher Alicja Gescinska.
part one
part two
Thanks to our partners PEN Belgium/Flanders and Lagrange Points for helping us develop the ‘Brussels International’ programme and for introducing more new literary voices in Belgium.
Photo by Caroline Lessire: Barrack Rima at the Passa Porta Festival 2021, Beursschouwburg, Brussels
