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Belonging: Learning to exist in the in-between
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.
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.
- GenresNonfiction
81 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 5, 2026
8 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 2, 2026
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.
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.
March 19, 2026
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.
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.
January 11, 2026
So inspiring!
April 29, 2026
J'aurais voulu qu'il soit plus long. Sujet très intéressant qui aurait mérité qu'on aille encore plus en profondeur.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews