South African · b. 1940
J.M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003 and the Booker Prize twice—for "Life & Times of Michael K" in 1983 and "Disgrace" in 1999—the only author to achieve that double. The South African-Australian novelist writes spare, austere fiction that examines power, violence, and the limits of ethical action. His work addresses apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa while raising questions about representation, authority, and the nature of literature itself.