Aurélien Dony

Born in Dinant in 1993, Aurélien Dony joined the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles in 2015 to pursue studies in Theatre and the Spoken Arts. Alongside his studies, he wrote and published several works, including poetry, short stories, and a novel. He represented French-speaking Belgium at the Trois-Rivières International Poetry Festival in 2013, at the Printemps poétique transfrontalier in 2018, and in Quebec in March 2020 during a poetic exchange between Namur and Quebec. In 2019, he co-founded Absolu Théâtre with Charly Simon. With this company, he created the productions A-vide (2020), J’aimerais mourir sous un orme (2021), and Ce qu’il reste d’hier (2022). In November 2021, he received the Public Prize in the Francophone Literature category at the Prix Fintro (1st edition).

Between 2019 and 2022, Aurélien led writing seminars at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles and joined the teaching team as an assistant in dramatic arts in September 2022. His dramatic and poetic work focuses primarily on the intensity of expression, the cultivation of words in the silence of the world, and the constant imbalance of the subject—an imbalance that weaves doubt into the very fabric of research. It is in this space that his collaborators are invited to engage with contemporary questions.

Publications

Grammaire du vide, Spring 2023, éditions de l’Arbre à Paroles

Amour Noir, Maëlstrom, Spring 2021, rootleg, éditions Maëlstrom

A-vide / J’aimerais mourir sous un orme, Editions Les oiseaux de nuit, Spring 2021

Du feu dans les brindilles, poems, éditions Bleu d’encre, February 2019

Le cœur en Lesse, short stories, éditions M.E.O, February 2019

Io, la belle suivi de poèmes en prose, poems, éditions Bleu d’encre, February 2018 (author royalties donated to the Brussels refugee support platform)

Au seuil d'un autre corps, poems, éditions Le Coudrier, February 2016

Le temps des noyaux, novel co-written with Claude Raucy, éditions MEO, February 2016

Puisque l’aube est défaite, poems, éditions MEO, Georges Lockem Prize, 2013

Awards

Georges Lockem Prize, Académie royale de langue et littérature françaises de Belgique, 2013

G. Grand’Ry Prize, Association des Ecrivains Belges, 2019

Public Prize – Prix Fintro 2021, Francophone literature category, authors under 32, 2021

Professional Experience

Assistant in dramatic arts at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, 2022–2024, supervising free-form creation

Participant in the International Poetry Festival of Benin, April 2023

Participant in the International Slam and Poetry Festival, Acadia, October 2022

Participant at Festival Sémaphore as a Belgian poet, Quimperlé, September 2022

Writing lecturer at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, December 2021

CAS (Centre des Arts Scéniques) selection for Siddhartha by H. Hesse, directed by Christine Delmotte, Théâtre des Martyrs, April 2022

CAS selection for Coriolan by W. Shakespeare, directed by Jean-Baptiste Delcourt, Théâtre des Martyrs, October 2021, reprise March 2023

CAS selection for Fabrice Murgia’s upcoming creation Décrocher la lune, September 2021 and September 2022

Associated poet for the river cruise/writing residency organized by Carl Norac alongside Laurence Vielle, Caroline Lamarche, Jean d’Amérique, Lisette Lombé, September 2021

Kiosk – Paroles d’artistes selection, recording at RTBF and Musiq3, text by Timotéo Sergoï, November 2020

Dramatic writing lecturer at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles (Chekhov – master’s students), November 2020

Participant in “Fleurs de funérailles” initiative by national poet Carl Norac, March 2020

Dramatic writing lecturer at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles (Sacred Texts Project – master’s students), January 2020

Writing workshops within the Festival international francophone du film (FIFF) for the Maison de la Poésie de Namur, focused on the work of Jean Tardieu, Claude Roy, and Julos Beaucarne

Dramatic Writing and Directing

L’œil du cerf, in development (premiere October 2023), Absolu Théâtre, collective direction and writing, supported by FWB, Un futur pour la culture, Central à La Louvière, cultural centers of Dinant, Hastière, Welkenraedt, Stavelot, VTS of Stavelot, Cité Miroir, City of Dinant, Congrès Résilience Wallonie, Delta de Namur, and SACD (writing grant)

Sardanapale, les singes dansent autour de nous by and with Timotéo Sergoï, directing and dramaturgy, Sortilèges Festival, Ath, May 2023

J’aimerais mourir sous un orme, creation at Riches-Claires de Bruxelles, writing and directing, September 2021 (self-funded)

A-vide, writing and directing with Charly Simon, creation at the Dinant cultural center September 2021, performed at Courants d’airs Festival 2021, Cocq’arts Festival September 2021, Mots-aïques Festival November 2021, Musiques démesurées Clermont-Ferrand November 2021, Boson de Bruxelles February 2022, Dinant cultural center March 2022, VTS Stavelot July 2022 (self-production); nominated for the Prix Maeterlinck de la Critique 2022, Discovery category.