Brussels poetry collective

Manza, the Brussels rapper with Moroccan roots, is a hiphop artist with a consience. His lyrics often have a political (or anti-political) message. He brings them with conviction, but without illusions. ‘Hiphop can play a role in social change,’ he says. He practises what he preaches. Manza has made three CDs and has also written a book, Pensées en vrac. His poetry collection En Armes et Consciences was published in 2008.

Liliane Wouters (Elsene, 1930) is a poet, playwright, translator and essayist.Wouters’s poetry debut La marche forcée (1954) recieved the Prix Polak. For Le Billet de Pascal she won the Prix de Goncourt de la Poésie 2000. Her other collections, Le bois sec and Le gel, were big successes as well. Wouters translates Flemish, mostly medieval poetry. She is a member of the Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, the Académie royale de Langue et de littérature française de Belgique and the Académie européenne de poésie.

The Galician author Xavier Queipo lives in Brussels since 1989 and works at the European Commission. He studied biology and medicine at the Universities of Porto and his home city Compostella. Next to his scientific work about marine biology he writes prose, poetry and stories for children, mostly in Galician. ‘Writing is psychoanalysis,’ argues Queipo. ‘I write to understand conflicts. Mine and those of the city.’

From early age on Frank De Crits (Oudenaarde, 1942) has been highly interested in language and literature. De Crits lives and works in Brussels. Many of his poems revolve around his love for the city. De Crits published six collections, among them 33 werkwoorden en andere miezerigheden, Met chinese inkt and Dichter bij Brussel. Since 1980 De Crits organizes the Brussels afternoons of Poetry and Prose.

David Van Reybrouck (Brugge, 1971) is one of the most versatile and most frequently awarded authors in Belgium and the Netherlands. He lives in Brussels for already more than ten years, where he wrote his non-fiction books De plaag and Congo and theater monologues as die Siel van die Mier and Missie. He is the founder of the Brussels Poetry Collective, and since 2011 his the president of PEN-Flanders.

Peter Vermeersch (Brugge, 1972) is a political scientist, slavist, essayist and poet. He teaches and conducts research at the University of Leuven. He published numerous articles in academic journals. In 2006 his book The Romani Movement appeared to strong reviews. He published poetry in Het Liegend Konijn. He lives in Brussels since 1997.