Publications
He's not an emotional guy. Shy and rather reserved, Damon Galgut prefers to keep his feelings to himself – but when the announcement was made that his novel, The Promise, had won this year’s Booker Prize, the Cape Town author’s joy was plain to see.
He was so overwhelmed when he walked onto stage at the ceremony in London that for a moment it seemed he might burst into tears. At last, after two previous nominations, he’d won one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes.
Even for South Africans who aren’t big readers it was proud moment as Damon only the third local author – after Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee – to win the Booker, helped put South African writing back on the map.
