Damon Galgut is a prominent South African novelist and playwright, born in 1963 in Pretoria to a Jewish father and a mother who converted to Judaism. Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, his background informed his focus on power dynamics, racial conflict, and political complicity in his writing.
Galgut won the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel “The Promise.” He was previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize twice for “The Good Doctor” (2003) and “In a Strange Room” (2010). His other works include “A Sinless Season” (1982), “Small Circle of Beings” (1988), “The Quarry” (1995), and “Arctic Summer” (2014). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Galgut frequently joins international petitions by writers and cultural figures opposing Israeli military governance and advocating for Palestinian human rights. Expressing support for South Africa bringing a genocide case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Galgut remarked: “It is a rare moment of pride. In recent years, there’s not a great deal about being a South African writer that has made me proud because of government kleptocracy and ineptitude. The pride comes from knowing that our government finally took a moral stand on an issue that concerns a lot of people.“
When asked about comparisons between South African apartheid and Israeli policy, Galgut stated: “I visited Israel once when I was in my early 20s and my political consciousness wasn’t particularly acute but I did think that Israel resembled apartheid South Africa in many respects. I don’t know enough about daily life in Israel to know if the comparison fits but from the external descriptions that are available, the breaking up of oppressed people into small ghetto-like enclaves does seem a lot like South Africa during the apartheid.“
Galgut is also one of the signatories of the 2025 public statement, “Global Jewish Call on the UN and World Leaders to Sanction Israel.”