J.M. Coetzee Overview

Born in Cape Town South Africa, John Maxwell Coetzee was the first child of an attorney and a school teacher. Coetzee attended the University of Capetown and graduated in 1960 with a degree in English and in 1961 with a degree... [more]

Born in Cape Town South Africa, John Maxwell Coetzee was the first child of an attorney and a school teacher. Coetzee attended the University of Capetown and graduated in 1960 with a degree in English and in 1961 with a degree in Mathematics. He entered the English PhD program at University of Texas in 1965, graduated in 1968, and began writing soon after. Dusklands, his first novel, was published in South Africa in 1974. His second novel, Heart of the Country (1977) won South Africa's CNA Prize, and with Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) he finally received recognition internationally. Life & Times of Michael K (1983) won the Man Booker Prize, which he won again with Disgrace (1999). His other novels Foe (1986), Age of Iron (1990), The Master of Petersburg (1994) and Elizabeth Costello (2003). He has also written three fictional memoirs, Boyhood (1997), Youth (2002), and the soon to be released Summertime (2009). He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. He currently holds an honorary position at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. [show less]