Nele Marian, born Mathilde Idalie Huysmans on 16 February 1906 in Lisala, Free State of Congo, was a Belgian writer, poet and journalist of Congolese-Belgian descent. She was born to a Congolese mother, Ojala, and a Belgian officer, Jules Jean Huysmans, who recognised her as his daughter and took her to Belgium at the age of two. She grew up in boarding schools and later in the care of her aunts in Brussels. Mathilde's childhood was marked by the challenges of growing up in a society that viewed her with suspicion and prejudice. She found solace in teaching and later writing, which became her refuge and a way to express her complex identity. 

In her early twenties, Mathilde moved to Brussels and began her career as a writer under the pseudonym Nele Marian. This pseudonym was carefully chosen, combining the name Nele, inspired by the character from ‘De Legende van Uilenspiegel’ by Charles De Coster, with Marian, possibly a tribute to René Maran, the first black author to win a major literary prize. In 1935, she published her collection ‘Poèmes et Chansons’, a powerful work that poignantly criticises colonialism and gives a voice to the oppressed Congolese. 

The collection, though short, is praised for its innovative use of free verse, alliteration and rhythmic language, which helped Marian become an important early figure in Congolese literature.

Her poem ‘Banjo’ is referred to as an indictment of discrimination against the African diaspora in Europe. As one of the first writers of African descent to make a mark on European literature, she used her creative voice to explore themes of colonial injustice, identity and the African experience under European rule. Her work is particularly significant in the context of the 1930s, a period when the voices of people of colour, especially women, were often marginalised. 

Although Marian continued to write poetry in her later years, she never published again, and much of her work fell into oblivion. However, her early work, especially ‘Poèmes et Chansons’, remains an important contribution to both Belgian and Congolese literary history. Marian died on 12 January 2005 in Brussels. During the Second World War, she wrote for the Walloon newspapers Terre Walonne and Cassandre, two newspapers that collaborated with the Germans. Her life and work are partly preserved by the Archive and Research Centre for Women's History in Belgium, which preserves her manuscripts, poems and other writings.