Meet the author Geoff Dyer
Meet the author
The meetings with writers at Passa Porta, prepared with passion, courage and thoroughness, are more than simply the presentation of literary works. We seek to achieve a genuine connection between writer and reader, and among readers themselves.
Go to overviewGeoff Dyer is one of the great daredevils of British literature. He stubbornly refuses to write the same book twice, breaking new ground each time. His boundless curiosity has produced classics on subjects as diverse as film (Zona on Tarkovsky’s Stalker), jazz (But beautiful) and World War I (The Missing of the Somme). In his latest book, The Last Days of Roger Federer and Other Endings, he describes in a most entertaining way the last works and years of some of his favourite artists.
When does the end set in? In his new book, Geoff Dyer looks for the beginning of the end in the careers of beloved artists, musicians and sportspeople. In his familiar pointed style, Dyer writes about Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental crisis, J.M.W. Turner’s almost abstract final paintings and Bob Dylan’s never-ending tour. So does it never end? Sometimes it does, but when? In his sharp and jesting studies, the writer spares no one, not even himself.
Interviewer and booklover Melissa Giardina talks to the man who, not entirely unjustly, has been described as ‘possibly Britain’s best prose writer’ (New York Magazine).
About the author
Geoff Dyer (b. 1958) is one of England’s most unique authors. He enjoys great respect in both literary and journalistic circles. Dyer has published four novels: Paris Trance, The Search, The Colour of Memory and Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. His oeuvre also includes many non-fiction titles. Dyer was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 2005 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His work has appeared in 24 languages and been awarded such prestigious prizes as the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for best comic novels.
About the moderator
Melissa Giardina (b. 1986) is the face of Vindetta!, a company that brings together everything Melissa loves most: moderating, interviewing and editing as well as translation, PR and communications. She is also a notorious booklover, keen on beauty and wonder, who worked as a bookseller for several years. Her roots lie in Brussels but she lives and reads in Ghent.