J.M. Coetzee wins the Booker Prize

John Maxwell Coetzee is a well-known South African author. After completing a degree in English and Mathematics, he went on to complete a PhD in English, Linguistics and German languages. In 1968, he became an assistant professor of English at New York State University. A year later he began to write fiction, with his first book, Dusklands, being published in 1974. Following three other publications, one of which won Britain's Booker Prize, Coetzee taught extensively in the United States, while also holding a number of prominent positions at the University of Cape Town. On 25 October 1999, Coetzee won the Booker Prize a second time for his novel Disgrace (1999). In 2003, he was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Coetzee, who has also been involved in Dutch and Afrikaans literature translation, currently lives in Australia and holds an honorary position at Adelaide University. He has been praised for his contribution to literature due to the richness of variety in his work, his analytical brilliance, and his frequent portrayal of the devastation caused by the injustices of the former regime in South Africa. Related: List of Coetzee's Novels