Linda Maroy Elizabeth, better known as Linda Maroy, is a poet, author and playwright, born in 2000 in Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo). In 2005, she enrolled at St Jeanne de Lestonnac primary school in Bukavu, where she developed an undeniable love of words from her first contact with school textbooks. In 2019, she obtained her bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology at Lycée Cirezi, where she was editor-in-chief of the very first issue of the school magazine "Racine".
In 2020, she wrote "BECHU", her very first show, a dance-poem that she presented at the Institut français in Bukavu before being selected and presented at the Ngoma festival in Kisangani (DRC). In 2021, she wrote the short story Rien ne vous oblige a faire de ma peine une chanson. The play was screened at the Institut français de Bukavu on 3 July 2021, then performed on 5 March 2022 and 12 March 2022 at the Institut français de Goma. The project was awarded a grant from the Swiss Artlink programme in July 2022. In September 2022, the artist was the winner of "Les mots à la scène" a programme of the Institut Français de Paris thanks to which the play received a national and international tour.
Residency project:
The artist wishes to write a poetry-drama Nyene. In the play-poem Nyene, the poet brings the world into her world as a young adult. She uses the spoken word to unpack the mysteries of her age. Not only does she talk about herself, her challenges and her fantasies, she also shares her experiences, her doubts, her fear of tomorrow, her existential crisis, as well as her resilience, her faith, her hope and her bravery.
"Nyene' is a word in 'Mashi' (her mother tongue) which means 'Me' in English.
We talk easily and often enough about children, women and men in general, but we forget to mention in particular the question of "young adulthood", which is so important in everyone's life. This is undoubtedly because the individual is at a pivotal and highly ambiguous stage: at the indeterminate boundary between adolescence (as the end of childhood) and youth (as the beginning of adulthood).
Children and teenagers, who have never stopped dreaming about the magic of "when I grow up", realise at this stage that nothing has been settled and that everything still has to be done. Especially as they now have all the attributes of a "grown-up".
Nyene was born out of a desire to be able to express, with complete freedom and poetic beauty, the little-known or little-understood realities that young adults feel and experience, so that they feel understood, supported, strengthened and encouraged to brave this important stage of life, to pursue their dreams with faith and the hope of being able to achieve them.
Your twenties can be a difficult time for many young adults, as they face the truth about pressures and transitions. It's also a time of exploration and growth in terms of relationships, friendships and social activity which can be very stressful for the young adult. Nyene is a creation of words against evils that focuses on mental health and well-being to encourage young people to take care of themselves and develop healthy habits to manage this important period of life.