Discover Sébastien de Clercq’s Journey

Dive into a carefully selected narrative capturing the essence and impact of Sébastien de Clercq’s literary and intellectual contributions.

Nationality: Belgian and American (dual national, full citizen of both). Born in USA (NYC) to American mother and Walloon Belgian father, raised, schooled in Belgium, with summers spent in USA visiting American mother’s immediate and extended family. Paternal grandfather was Franco-Flemish; Paternal grandmother was Walloon. Both Belgian grandparents and my Belgian father lived through the horrors and hardship of World War II and Nazi occupation of Belgium 1938-1945; 3 Belgian great uncles were brutally murdered by the Nazis. My Belgian father grew up in an upper class Flemish household where Flemish, standard Dutch, and French were spoken daily at home.

Age: mid 50s, GenX

Education: primary “grade school” at Dutch speaking elementary school in Brussels, middle and high school at French-speaking lycée. Bachelors degree in linguistics from Université Catholique de Louvain, Masters degree in French literature from Sorbonne, Paris, PhD doctorate in linguistics and dialectology from Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam

Career: former linguistics professor, on-call European Union certified translator-interpreter, current writer/author & essayist

Locations: I have lived in Brussels, New York City, Namur, Paris, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Antwerp.

Social identity: queer, secular Buddhist, have been a strict vegetarian since about 1982, and am a lifelong eco-socialist, or what some call a “champagne socialist.”

Languages: I speak both French and American English with native fluency (no foreign accent), and speak Dutch/Flemish and German with near native fluency, as well as Spanish, Catalan, Letzebuergesch, and Italian with varying levels of proficiency depending on how many beers I’ve had! 🍺 😆