The Jakes Gerwel Foundation welcomes Moroccan-Flemish author Fikry El Azzouzi to the JGF and Brussels-based International house of literature Passa Porta’s Dialogue Programme for Writers from the Low Countries and South Africa, which takes place next month.
Fikry El Azzouzi will be joining fellow Belgian writer Fleur Pierets and award-winning South African writers Dumisani Hlatswayo and Sindiswa Busuku in writers’ residency at the foundation’s Paulet House in Somerset East from the 7th to the 21st of November.
He replaces Dr. Yousra Benfquih, jurist in international human rights, author, columnist, poet, and spoken-word artist who is unable to attend due to illness. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Fikry El Azzouzi made his debut in 2010 with Het Schapenfeest, which would be the first novel in a trilogy. Drarrie in de nacht followed in 2014 and Alleen zij rounded off the trilogy in 2016. His novel De Beloning (2019) was inspired by the ‘man in the hat’, one of the suspects in the terror attacks in Brussels in March 2016.
He has also made his mark with theatre pieces such as Troost and Rumble in da jungle (2013), Reizen Jihad (2015) as well as Pax Europa and Alleen voor actrice Sara De Roo (2016). Together with his theatre company Jr.cE.sA.r, he has created Malcolm X (2016) and Dear Winnie (2019), two highly relevant and original multimedia theatre pieces.
Besides also taking on the role as columnist for, among others, De Morgen and De Standaard, he has now written his first book for children, called Aicha en de verloren taal (2022).
He has received both the Arkprijs of the Vrije Woord as well as the Ultima for Literature.
In 2017, Dumisani Hlatswayo’s second novel Imibala Yothando won the Sanlam Literature Award for Youth Literature. His work is also prescribed for schools.
Sindiswa Busuku debuted with Loud and Yellow Laughter, winner of the 2018 Ingrid Jonker prize for poetry.
Fleur Pierets is an award-winning artist and writer as well as an LGBTQ+ activist. She combines different media such as photography and performance arts with writing.
The Belgian/South African connection
The collaboration between the Jakes Gerwel Foundation and Passa Porta was cemented in 2019 with the first writers’ residency for two South Africans – Chase Rhys and Denver Breda and two Belgian writers – Miriam van hee and Rachida Lamrabet at the foundation’s Paulet House in Somerset East, Eastern Cape.
Two Flemish writers are chosen each year to share a residency with two South African writers. In this way, the partners encourage cross-pollination between the writing of writers from different backgrounds and strive to enrich the body of literature here and abroad.
About the Partners
This collaboration stems from Professor Jakes Gerwel’s considerable legacy, in that it was from the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels in 1979 that he received his doctorate in Literature and Philosophy (magna cum laude). His thesis which was published in 1983 was on “Literatuur en apartheid. Konsepsies van ‘gekleurdes’ in die Afrikaanse roman tot 1948” [“Literature and Apartheid. Conceptions of ‘coloured people’ in the Afrikaans novel up to 1948]. It was a study that impacted Afrikaans literary criticism in a big way.
Today, the foundation’s aim is to promote and expand South African literature in general, especially Afrikaans which was Professor Gerwel’s field of expertise.
The focus areas are:
- Enriching South African literature
- Assisting with new perspectives and sharing of new experiences
- Supporting emerging writers and new voices
- Encouraging reading and promoting literacy among the youth.” Annual Report 2021/2022.
However, the foundation is as open to multilingualism much like partner Passa Porta which is a multilingual meeting place in Brussels, a city where 181 Nationalities co-exist. Passa Porta occupies a spot at the heart of all these languages and offers a passport for readers to meet favourite writers from home and away and explore new writings.
In addition, it is a place where writers, artists, and translators can slow down and have a platform or workspace where they exchange ideas, texts, and stories. Every second year 100s of writers and artists from all over the world descend on Brussels to participate in the Passa Porta Festival that honours Brussels as a city of literature.
