1. Damon Galgut was born on 12 November 1963 and is a South African novelist and playwright.
13 Facts About Damon Galgut
1. 2.
Damon Galgut was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise, having previously been shortlisted for the award in 2003 and 2010.
3.
Damon Galgut's father was from a Jewish family and his mother converted to Judaism.
4.
Damon Galgut was head boy of Pretoria Boys High School, matriculating in 1981.
5.
Damon Galgut then studied drama at the University of Cape Town.
6.
Damon Galgut wrote his first novel, A Sinless Season, when he was 17.
7.
At the time of his Booker win, Damon Galgut was working on a collection of short stories.
8.
Damon Galgut is gay and has stated that this leads him to focus on more male-oriented relationships in his writing.
9.
Damon Galgut has lived in Cape Town since the early 1990s.
10.
Damon Galgut is a keen traveller and wrote much of The Good Doctor in a hotel in Goa.
11.
Damon Galgut describes himself as "obsessed" with yoga, and for some time did not own a car or a television.
12.
Damon Galgut has a "fetish around stationery" and writes longhand on notebooks first rather than on a typewriter or computer.
13.
Damon Galgut has used a particular tortoiseshell Parker fountain pen since he was about 20.