Filmmaker and slam poetry champion Lisette Ma Neza has been named Brussels’ first city poet, an honorary position that lasts for two years. “I see it as a conversation,” she says.
Slam poet Lisette Ma Neza will be the first Brussels city poet. Over the next two years, she will write a series of poems about life in the capital and be an ambassador for the city.
“I think I have a large network in Brussels, from theatres, libraries and visual artists to schools where I’ve taught,” she said. “I really want to work with all these different parts of the city. With people who I know well, but also those I don’t yet know. I see it as a conversation. I want to get out and discover the city.”
Born in 1998 in the Netherlands, Ma Neza is the daughter of refugees from Rwanda. She moved to Brussels and studied film at the LUCA School of Arts and was Belgian slam poetry champion in 2017.
Voice of the community
She was officially presented to the public on Monday by minister Sven Gatz of Flemish liberal party Open VLD. Her position takes effect on World Poetry Day, 21 March, and will last for two years. In that time, she will write 19 poems that focus on the reality of Brussels and “act as an ambassador for this multilingual region”, said Gatz, whose office funds the position.
Ma Neza will “represent the voice of the Brussels community and write poetry in languages that reflect the identity of the city and connect its inhabitants”.
Around 30 nominations were received for the post, with judges from the media industry creating a shortlist of five people. More than 3,000 people then had their say in a public vote.
The title of city poet is a common honorary position in Flanders and the Netherlands. Antwerp was the first Flemish city to appoint a city poet, in 2003.