Welcome to Tender Rebellion!
This is a space for me to be more than a tad philosophical, pleasantly irreverent, tenderly anarchic.
Hi, my name is Conny and I’m a poet and essayist. I also make erasure poetry, sometimes with digital collage.
My story
My first language is Flemish (Dutch), but I fell in love with the English language at a young age, and now I’m fluent in both.
I’m somewhat of a late starter when it comes to writing. Growing up in a regular working class family in the Flemish coastal region of Belgium, I didn’t have access to the right support network to be able to realise my dormant literary impulses.
Later on, while living in Ireland, I became ill with a complex chronic illness. In learning to cope with this illness, I had the opportunity to reinvent myself. I was no longer able to work. So, instead I started studying for a humanities degree with the Open University. It was there that I discovered poetry, and I haven’t stopped writing since.
Now I’m back living in the Flemish part of Belgium, right next to the North Sea, and I spend my time reading, writing and working part-time at my local social grocery.
For the last fourteen years I have been living a ‘part-time life’ because of ME/CFS, an invisible disability and under-researched complex of illnesses. If you would like to learn more, please visit the link below.
The mysterious disease that affects millions of people worldwide, a DW documentary on YouTube.
Tender Rebellion 