About Zainab Noor el Hejazi
Since Valentine's Day 2019, the University of Antwerp has been the first university in Flanders to have its own campus poet. The honor went to Zainab Noor el Hejazi, a doctoral student and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Business and Economics. Under the poetic pseudonym Noor Intisar, she regularly wrote poems about life on and around our university.
"For me, poetry is not just word art but a compass that helps me navigate wherever in the world I find myself. Without poetry, I feel lost. I believe that all people have access to their (latent) creativity but also tend to think that it has to be at a certain level to mean something. If I can take a step to lower the threshold for others to express creativity in their lives, then I have achieved my goal."
Even in times of COVID-19, poetry offers an escape from reality, a relief from worries, or a small smile. Therefore, search online, in books or newspapers, ask family and friends if they have a favorite poem, or why not - try creating a poem yourself.