Belonging: Learning to exist in the in-between

by Aurelia Durand

Aurélia Durand is a French artist and author.

She is a New York Times bestselling illustrator for This Book Is Anti-Racist, which has been widely translated and distributed internationally.

Alongside her publishing work, Aurélia Durand has collaborated with major international brands and institutions, including The New York Times, Google, Adobe, Nike, LEGO, and Sephora.

She is also a regular speaker at leading international creative conferences, including Pictoplasma and Forward Festival, where she discusses identity, representation, and creative authorship.

Learning to Exist in the In-Between is her first memoir, drawing on her personal journey across France, La Réunion, and Denmark to explore identity, migration, and the role of creativity in shaping a sense of self.


Raised in France, shaped by time in La Réunion, and transformed by a decade in Denmark, artist and author Aurélia Durand grew up learning how to exist between cultures, languages, and expectations. From the suburbs of Paris to the silence of Copenhagen, she traces how place shapes identity, how invisibility leaves marks, and how creativity becomes a space of survival and reclamation.

Through intimate scenes of childhood, education, love, burnout, and artistic awakening, Belonging explores what it means to grow up mixed-race, to navigate environments that demand assimilation, and to build a life far from where you began. It reflects on family inheritance, cultural displacement, and the emotional cost of constantly translating yourself in spaces where you are both familiar and foreign.

This memoir is also a reflection on creativity as resistance. When words failed, color became language. When belonging felt out of reach, art became a way to exist without shrinking. Writing these pages allowed the author to trace the origins of her visual work and to articulate why joy, presence, and visibility matter, especially for women of color.

Belonging is for readers who have lived between worlds, who have questioned where they fit, and who understand that identity is not fixed but constructed over time. It is an invitation to reclaim your voice, to stop dividing yourself into acceptable fragments, and to remember one essential

You already belong to yourself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

81 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 5, 2026

About the author

Aurélia Durand is a French artist and author living in Denmark. Known for her colorful and expressive work, she explores themes of identity, belonging, diversity, and creativity. She is the illustrator of the New York Times bestseller This Book Is Anti-Racist and the author of Belonging, a memoir about migration, mixed identity, and finding your place in the world. Through both art and writing, she creates work that encourages reflection, connection, and joy.

Reviews

[Angelique]

Beautiful, concise, and straight to the point.
I loved the many expressions and found myself quoting several passages. I truly believe that many expats, immigrants—or simply humans—who have moved to Denmark and now call it home can easily relate to this short autobiographical book.
I appreciate how the author describes living in Denmark and elaborates so thoughtfully on many social aspects of the country. The way she weaves the past into the present, and explains how finding stillness and embracing silence helped her rediscover her voice, is beautifully expressed.
Some may say that this kind of book could have been published as a blog or a series of online articles, but I clearly see why—being an artist herself—she needed to present it as a physical book. I do not regret purchasing it, reading it, enjoying it, and relating to so many pages.
Thank you for a fresh and meaningful read.

[Christina]

„Creativity flourishes when ideas cross borders. Societies stagnate when fear governs their choices.“ p92
Beautiful, beautiful book by Aurélia Durand. I loved the carefully chosen prose and the well executed exploration of belonging to cultures that don’t readily accomodate BIPoC women.

This leads me to my first twinge of unease while reading. „Nations do not grant belonging. It grows from within. It emerges when you choose not to fracture yourself to make others comfortable.“ p92
While there is clearly experiential truth value to this sentiment and I resonate with it, the narrative for reaching belonging is an individualised one. I think it’s unrealistic for individuals being responsible for conducting their personhoods in such a way as to find acceptance and real community. It’s absolutely part of the equation, but frankly struggling with belonging is also about prejudice within society. I can accept myself as much as I want, if my existence due to factors I cannot control (disability status, skin colour etc) is marginalised, that’s a societal issue.
I know this is probably obvious and the author is more than well aware. I just want to add that the process of belonging is a two way street, and Europe absolutely carries unresolved racism and histories of colonialism to name a few.

My other piece of feedback is that I found the book a bit repetitive sometimes. Overall though I deeply appreciate the storytelling and would read more of what Aurélia Durand puts to paper!

[Arianna March]

Really wanted to like this book. I picked it up during a low moment in my stay in DK - middle of February, darkness clinging to me inside and out, months of vain socializing efforts. I needed some hope.

Some lines reflect 1:1 my experience, holding up a beautifully worded mirror. Yet… I cannot help but take away that her answer to this tension is… giving up? No matter how much I tried, I could not find within her words the redemption story she seemed convinced she was laying out.

3 stars do not reflect her writing, nor her ability for self reflection. They reflect the bleakness I am left with after closing the back cover.

[Rima Dinbo]

I am really happy to have found a voice who helped me look for my own voice and strength in a society that requested me to be almost invisible in order to be accepted. I read this book like I would have read a letter from a friend or a sister who decided to light the way to my sovereignty.

[Janete Abrantes]

So inspiring!

[Charlene Leroy]

J'aurais voulu qu'il soit plus long. Sujet très intéressant qui aurait mérité qu'on aille encore plus en profondeur.