Erwin Mortier (Ghent, 1965) made his debut in 1999 with Marcel, immediately taking a prominent place in Dutch-language literature. The novel was hailed as a modern classic and received numerous awards, including the Flemish and Dutch debut prizes, the Gerard Walschap Prize, the Gouden Ezelsoor, and the Vanderhoogt Prize.

His novel While the Gods Were Sleeping (2008) was called a masterpiece upon its release and received praise in his homeland, Belgium, and throughout the rest of Europe. The novel was awarded the AKO Literature Prize in 2009, one of the most important literary awards in the Dutch-language area.

Stammered Songbook. A Mother’s Book of Hours (2011), in which he describes the last years of his mother, who suffered from early-onset dementia, is considered another highlight in his oeuvre. The book, in Marie Hooghe-Stassen’s luminous French translation, was awarded the prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in 2013.

Mortier attaches great importance to the translation of literary works, an important characteristic of what he calls civilization. He himself has translated into his native Dutch works by, among others, Virginia Woolf, Maurice Maeterlinck, Enid Bagnold, Mary Borden, and Seán Hewitt. With translators such as Ina Rilke, Marie Hooghe-Stassen, Christiane Kuby, Ira Wilhelm, Goedele De Sterck, Paul Vincent, and David Colmer, his own work can count on some of the most outstanding translators.

In addition, Mortier is also concerned with mental well-being and mental health care. Until 2002, he worked as a scientific curator at the Ghent Museum Dr. Guislain for the history of psychiatry, a place he still holds dear and with which he feels closely connected. In 2025, the museum team invited him to revisit his old workplace and curate the exhibition A Home of One’s Own, as a prologue to the museum’s 40th anniversary in 2026.