Meet the author: J.M. Coetzee
J.M. Coetzee has received more awards than he has written books, and he has written many. He won the Booker Prize twice and in 2003 received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Now we can at last celebrate him in Brussels, too. He will give a lecture and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) will award him an honorary doctorate. A unique opportunity to listen to one of the world’s most influential authors in person.
This evening is organized by Passa Porta, De Munt / La Monnaie, VUB and Uitgeverij Cossee.
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elizabeth costello
To mark J.M. Coetzee’s visit to Brussels and The Hague, his Dutch publisher Cossee is releasing Wereld en wandel van Elizabeth Costello, for which the author selected old Costello stories and added new ones. This prominent character in Coetzee’s oeuvre is also the subject of a new opera. Coetzee wrote the libretto himself, to music by Belgian composer Nicholas Lens, with whom he previously collaborated on an adaptation of Slow Man. Lens will join Coetzee on stage at De Munt / La Monnaie to discuss their collaborations.
The evening will be accompanied by live music from the operas based on the work of J.M. Coetzee. The author will also deliver an extensive lecture on a subject close to his heart.
honorary doctor
J.M. Coetzee is not only a writer. He also had a long academic career at the universities of Cape Town and Adelaide. It is therefore no surprise that the VUB is awarding him the title of doctor honoris causa this year. The official award ceremony of the honorary doctorate will take place on the stage of De Munt / La Monnaie.
After Orhan Pamuk, Olga Tokarczuk, Annie Ernaux and Abdulrazak Gurnah, Passa Porta is once again welcoming a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. More than twenty years after receiving the highest literary award, J.M. Coetzee continues to write timeless and relevant books. He is not known as an author who often makes public appearances, and we are therefore particularly honoured to be able to offer his Belgian readers an unforgettable evening at De Munt / La Monnaie.
about the author
J.M. Coetzee was born in 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of novels, essays and stories. He twice received the Booker Prize, for his novels Life & Times of Michael K and Disgrace. In 2003 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his oeuvre. In 2012 J.C. Kannemeyer published a first biography of the author, J.M. Coetzee: A Life in Writing. It was followed in 2015 by David Attwell’s J.M. Coetzee and the Life of Writing, which offered a fascinating insight into, among other things, the genesis of his novels. Coetzee reaffirmed his reputation as one of the greatest contemporary writers with The Childhood of Jesus (2013) and The Schooldays of Jesus (2016). The Death of Jesus followed in November 2019, the final instalment of his comprehensive Jesus trilogy. In 2025 Coetzee released his adaptation of Olive Schreiner’s novel Van man tot man, and in October of this year it will be followed by Wereld en wandel van Elizabeth Costello, featuring old and new stories.
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