“It all started in a small village somewhere in the south of Morocco. A brave man took his chance and discovered a life and world far beyond the mountains that embraced his village. He ended up in Belgium and this is where my story begins. "

Ish Ait Hamou was born in Vilvoorde in a family with Moroccan roots. He likes to tell stories from an early age. He does this both as a hip hop dancer (many know him from the program So You Think You Can Dance) and choreographer, and nowadays he does that as an author and recently also as a director. He debuted with 'Hard hart' (2014). In 2015 a second novel followed: 'Cécile'. A year later he wrote "Als je iemand verliest die je niet kan verliezen" in response to the new campaign of "Te Gek ?!", an organization that is actively committed to breaking the taboo on mental health. He filmed this novel in 2018 with the short film 'Klem' as a result. In addition, Ish toured in the spring of 2018 and 2019 with his own performance 'Aangenaam, Ik ben Ish', a piece in which he talks about the power of stories through words, dance and music.

“I finally understood why everyone ate with their left hand and why I ate with my right hand. I needed the story my mother told me to understand cultures and their differences. "

Ish Ait Hamou grew up with one foot in Western culture and the other in the Moroccan. Are you also curious about his stories and experiences? Welcome on June 6 at 8 p.m. in De Centrale, admission is free!

To say it with Ish words:

"There you go, take a seat, because I feel like you would love to hear stories about things I have seen."

Since 2016, intercultural music center De Centrale, Bookstore Limerick and social-artistic workplace Victoria Deluxe Vzw organize four literary evenings in Ghent. We believe in the absolute necessity of an inclusive and diverse literary field, in which writers and readers from all over society feel at home. That is why with La Lettre A we want to give a stage to today's storytellers, for today's readers. With Speak Out Ghent, we launched a platform for the storytellers of tomorrow in the autumn of 2018.

La Lettre A is possible thanks to support from the Flemish Literature Fund and the City of Ghent.

author photo (c) Shed Mojahid Photography