meet the author: jess walter
Jess Walter is the author of thrillers, short stories, and contemporary and historical novels. He now adds a biting satire on a deeply divided American society to his body of work with his new novel, So Far Gone, which Netflix is set to adapt into a series. US expert Steven De Foer will be in conversation with him.
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walden
Rhys Kinnick, a retired environmental journalist, has fallen out with his daughter and son-in-law, a radical Christian who spreads conspiracy theories. After an argument gets out of hand, Rhys gets rid of his phone and retreats to a cabin in the woods, a modern-day Walden. Seven years later, his grandchildren turn up: their mother is missing and they need his help to find her. What follows is a road trip through Trump’s America, featuring armed militiamen, radical preachers facing off against hippies, ex-police officers and Native Americans.
too far gone?
That, in a nutshell, is the story of So Far Gone, in which we eventually discover whether, after seven years off the grid, the protagonist was too far gone to reconcile with his daughter and grandchildren. The bigger question Jess Walter poses with this book, however, is how far gone American society is and where salvation might come from. These are issues Steven De Foer also explores in his books and journalistic work for De Standaard. De Foer is therefore the ideal interlocutor for Jess Walter.
netflix
Jess Walter’s books are almost never alike, as he switches seemingly effortlessly between genres and styles. But one thing we can always be sure to get are sharp dialogue, great empathy and profound insight into and commentary on our society. It was recently announced that Netflix is set to produce a series based on the book. That Jess Walter is a great storyteller not only on paper but also in person is something you will be able to discoverfor yourself on 25 May in Brussels.
about the author
Jess Walter made his debut in 2001 with Over Tumbled Graves. This was followed by several novels, including the National Book Award finalist The Zero, the Edgar Allan Poe Award winner Citizen Vince, and Land of the Blind. His novel Beautiful Ruins, which spent weeks at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, sold more than100,000 copies in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Cold Millions was selected as one of the best books of 2020according to the New York Times, Washington Post, Oprah and many others. The Angel of Rome was chosen as the ‘best summer read’ by many US publications. So Far Gone came out in 2025.
about the moderator
Steven De Foer (b. 1965) has been a journalist at De Standaard for 33 years and is a regular guest on radio and TV talk shows. Today he is best known as an expert on the US: since travelling to New York on 9/11 to report on the attacks, he has visited 37 of the 50 states. His first book on the US, Amerikanen, reached number one on the non-fiction bestseller list. In May 2024 De Foer published De saboteurs, in many ways a sequel to Amerikanen but with a particular focus: how is it possible that the Republican Party, founded by the noble Abraham Lincoln, could have sunk so low morally that it allowed itself to be hijacked by a man like Donald Trump?
picture: jess walter © rajah bose
Soon at Passa Porta
de zes van antwerpen in brussel: oscar van den boogaard en sonja noël
