Tom Lanoye

Tom Lanoye (his name is pronounced the French way: /lanwa/) was born on 27 August 1958 in the Belgian city Sint Niklaas. He is a novelist, poet, columnist, screenwriter and playwright. He is one of the most widely read and honoured authors in his language area (the Netherlands and Flanders), and makes regular appearances at all the major European theatre festivals. Lanoye was the youngest son of a butcher. He attended the catholic Sint-Jozef-Klein-Seminarie College in Sint-Niklaas. At the time it was a single-sex boys' school. He studied Germanic Philology and Sociology at Ghent University. Still a student, he self-published his first work. In his own words, 'Just like all the punk bands did in those days: out of dissatisfaction with the existing structures, and to learn the trade from the inside out'.

Lanoye lives and works in Antwerp and Cape Town (South Africa). His literary work has been published and/or performed in over fifteen languages.