Biography
Joëlle Sambi was born in Brussels and spent her early years there. She grew up in Kinshasa and only returned to Belgium in 2001 to pursue journalism studies at the Free University of Brussels. She is the author of several short stories including Je ne Sais pas Rêver in 2003; Religion Ya Kitendi published by Gallimard (Mercure de France) and Young Writer Prize 2005. She received the “Gros Sel” jury prize in 2008 for her novel Le Monde est Gueule de Chèvre, published by Biliki (Belgium 2007). Although she dissociates her origin and her writing work, the Congo, its history and contemporary Belgium are nevertheless present implicitly in her stories as well as in her projects. Author and LGBT feminist activist, Joëlle Sambi writes and raises questions about identity, norms, belonging, she is caught between several languages and her writings bear the traces of this. She lives on the border and the strangeness of her language leads her writing to poetry and slam, which she regularly publishes on her blog: “Solola Bien”
She is currently performing in the show “Congo Eza” for which she co-wrote the texts (Lezarts Urbains).
Source: objectifplumes.be
