Jessy James
LaFleur
Spoken word activist, entrepreneur & rapper
About:
Jessy James LaFleur is a nomad by conviction, a spoken word activist, entrepreneur, and rapper. Originally from East Belgium, she has been performing her socially critical and thought-provoking poetry in three different languages for 20 years, gracing stages in over 30 countries.
She is the founder of the „Spoken Word Academy,“ which implements democratic poetry projects for young adults across Europe and specifically focuses on the East of Germany to counteract the growing shift to the right. For her work, she was awarded „Cultural and Creative Pilot Germany” in 2020, and since 2022, the academy has been part of the „Neulandgewinner“ funding programme.
She leads workshops in schools and prisons and founded the collective „Lost Poetas“ for young women* from rural areas. Her first play, “Confessions of a paper plane,” premiered in 2018, and in 2021 she released the spoken word album “DOMA” together with cellist Natasha Jaffe. In 2023, she published her feminist anthology „Aufbruch ist weiblich” (Taking Off is Female). Jessy James LaFleur lives in Berlin and Prague and is working on her first poetry collection, „La vie est (re)belle“.
