Johan de Boose (°1962) is a Belgian author of award-winning fiction and nonfiction.
Johan de Boose was born in Ghent (Belgium) in 1962. He grew up in Belgium, The Netherlands and Central-Europe.
He is a doctor in Slavic languages and Eastern Europe having written his dissertation on Tadeusz Kantor and the Theatre of Death (Eastern-European avantgarde in theatre).
He studied in Bulgaria, Poland and Russia between 1984 and 1990 and worked as a journalist for newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
He worked for theatres (dramaturgy Nederlands Toneel Gent in 1985 and 1990), later director of experimental theatre in collaboration with Nieuwpoorttheater and Vooruit; had his own theatre Barrikade/Suikerij in Ghent (from 1988 till 1995); worked as an actor en author for Kollektief D&A and Productiehuis Noord-Brabant, from 1995 till 1998).
Between 1985 and 1990 he was a translator, assistant en archivist of Theatre Cricot 2 and its director Tadeusz Kantor in Krakow (Poland).
Johan de Boose has been a visiting professor at the RITCS and the theatre schools of Eindhoven, Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels and worked a long time for Radio 3 and Radio Klara (Belgian, Dutch speaking public broadcasting, cultural programs).
From 1999 till 2001 he was responsible for radiodrama and radiophonic, literary programmes. He made television programmes for Canvas (Belgian, Dutch speaking public broadcasting).
Now, he is fulltime author of fiction literary nonfiction, theatre and poetry.
He has published in various Flemish and Dutch literary magazines (Revolver, Deus Ex Machina, DWB, De Gids, De Revisor), is a presentator of the monthly Thursdays of Poetry in Antwerp and free-lance travel manager for cultural organisations in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Furthermore he makes theatre adaptations of his own novels. In 2014 the monologue ‘Martyrs’ (‘Bloedgetuigen’) was presented. In 2017 he wrote the text of Jan Fabre’s theatre production Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules. With an Avant-première July 1st in Teatro Politeano in Milano and a première 18th of July in the Volkstheater of Vienna. Afterwards world tour.
He has been the curator of the literature festival Het Betere Book (The Better Book), 13th-14th October in the old city library of Ghent and is a critic Eastern-European literature and columnist for the newspaper De Standaard. He has also been a curator for the University of Ghent Humanities Academy Subject: Ukraine and the European geopolitical situation.
In 2018 he published his novel Cursed Wood. (Translation in German in 2021 by btb/Luchterhand)
He has since written the text for a theatre play '1984' at Berliner Ensemble (Germany). Director: Luk Perceval. Premiere: november 2023.
In 2025 his new book 'Joegoslavie' (Yugoslavia) will be published in Dutch with De Bezige Bij.
Photo: © Stephan Vanfleteren
