Delphine Lecompte (born 22 January 1978) is a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

poet and columnist.

Career

In 2010, she won the

C. Buddingh'-prijs The C. Buddingh'-prijs (Dutch for C. Buddingh' Prize) is an annual literary award for the best debut poetry collection in Dutch. The award is given by Poetry International Web, Poetry International and is named after Dutch poet C. Buddingh'. The ...

for her debut poetry collection ''De dieren in mij''. She also received the Prijs voor Letterkunde van de Provincie West-Vlaanderen in 2011 for this debut.

Controversy

In 2021, she wrote a letter to ''Humo'' magazine in which she made several controversial comments regarding

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

. Her letter was condemned by Flemish ministers including

Matthias Diependaele Matthias Diependaele (born 7 Augustus 1979 in Sint-Niklaas) is a Belgian politician affiliated to the N-VA who is the current Minister for Finance, Budget, Housing and Immovable Heritage in the Flemish Government. He previously served as a member ...

and

Sammy Mahdi Sammy Mahdi (born 21 September 1988) is a Belgian Christian-Democrat politician, a member of CD&V, who in March 2020 became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. On 1 October 2020, Mahdi became Secretary of State for Asylum and Mi ...

. The city of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, which employs her as the official poet of a museum, did not endorse her views but recognised her right to free speech.

Publications

* 2009: ''De dieren in mij'' * 2010: ''Verzonnen prooi'' * 2012: ''Blinde gedichten'' * 2013: ''Schachten en amuletten'' * 2014: ''De baldadige walvis'' * 2015: ''Dichter, bokser, koningsdochter'' * 2017: ''Western'' * 2019: ''Vrolijke verwoesting'' * 2021: ''Beschermvrouwe van de verschoppelingen''

Awards

* 2010:

, ''De dieren in mij'' * 2011: Prijs voor Letterkunde van de Provincie West-Vlaanderen, ''De dieren in mij''

References

External links

Delphine Lecompte
(in Dutch),

Digital Library for Dutch Literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

Delphine Lecompte
(in Dutch), Nederlandse Poëzie Encyclopedie (Dutch Poetry Encyclopedia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lecompte, Delphine 1978 births Living people Flemish poets Belgian columnists Belgian women columnists C. Buddingh' Prize winners 20th-century Belgian women 21st-century Belgian women Controversies in Belgium