Belgian author and performer Geneviève Damas draws on a formative childhood experience in her fresh novel, exploring themes of social inequality and compassion. Damas recalls accompanying her grandmother, Antoinette, on volunteer work delivering meals to those in demand, a practice that profoundly shaped her worldview.
I grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre in a neighborhood where everyone owned the same car, where all the children went to the same school, etc. Thanks to my grandmother, I became aware that the world I lived in was not the world.
Damas vividly remembers one particular visit with her grandmother to Liège, where they delivered aid to a 90-year-old woman, Mme. P., living in squalor. “This lady lived on the top floor. The windows were held in with sticky tape, the TV was on all the time, the smell was terrible,” Damas described. “I remember that just climbing the four flights of stairs was horrible.” She continued, “I was terrified. Mme P. Was in an unimaginable state of dirt, she was blind and lived alone with her two old cats.”
Geneviève Damas : “L’idée de manquer d’argent m’est insupportable”
“She Was My Role Model”
Despite the grim conditions, Antoinette remained steadfast, taking the time to sit and converse with the elderly woman over a cup of coffee. This experience, Damas says, opened her eyes to the realities beyond her privileged upbringing. The author’s work often reflects this commitment to social engagement, with frequent workshops and events designed to foster connection and understanding.
Damas regularly organizes gatherings around her novels, writing contests for teenagers, mediation sessions, and theater and writing workshops in retirement homes and schools—including collaborative projects like Oser l’espoir, which brought together students from different religious backgrounds. She also leads thematic workshops for young people on topics such as coexistence, colonization, and ecology.
Even while pursuing a law degree—because “it’s the degree my mother was prevented from taking,” she explains—Damas found resonance with the concept of distributive justice. “I learned that the world is not fair and that justice is there to restore balance, by giving more to those who have less.” She notes this was a principle her grandmother embodied long before she encountered it in academic theory. “My grandmother practiced it in the field.”
Antoinette passed away in 2003 at the age of 92. “She was a true figure, a courageous woman. She was my role model. I think of her every day. My daughter is named after her,” Damas shared, her voice filled with emotion. “When you give, you also receive a lot,” she continued. “My grandmother often told me this phrase: ‘Sometimes life takes you where you don’t want to go, and that’s where you find your happiness…’”
→”Trace” | Novel | Geneviève Damas | Gallimard, 203 pp., €19, digital €14
→ Geneviève Damas is performing her new indicate, “Respire,” until March 28 at Les Tanneurs. Info and reservations at 02.512.17.84 or on https://lestanneurs.be. Then at Vilar (Louvain-la-Neuve) from May 12 to June 6.
