Geert Buelens discusses his poetry collection "Ofwa"

This week the poetry collection Ofwa was published, written by Prof. Geert Buelens (Languages, Literature and Communication). He was a guest at Belgian radio stations Radio 1 an Klara to talk about the themes of social media and the climate crisis in the collection.

Part of the problem

Buelens' poems deal with the problems facing humanity today, specifically on social media and in the form of the climate crisis. Although the poems are not particularly cheerful, according to Buelens, they are not intended to only criticise people. "I am, of course, part of the problem myself," he says on Radio 1. "I hope it may be useful to say that, to pronounce it."

The climate crisis in literature

Buelens is currently teaching a master's course on the representation of the climate crisis in Dutch literature. According to Buelens, more and more books have appeared in recent years in which the climate crisis plays a role. He hopes that literature can play a role in both raising awareness of the problem and expressing the stress and panic associated with it.

Feelings in society

"The anger in the title poem "Ofwa" is not only my anger, but also an anger you see in society," Buelens says on Klara. Social media are places where people can express that anger, but the anger only seems to grow as a result. This tone, of people who are overwhelmed in their own minds by feelings of anger and powerlessness, is what Buelens has tried to reflect in his collection. He himself sees hope in the many engaged young people who are making their voices heard at the moment.