Damon Galgut’s third novel, a fictionalized biography of English author E.M. Forster, focuses on Forster’s many years in India and the process of writing his masterpiece, A Passage to India. This compact, finely wrought novel also addresses Forster’s unforgiving childhood in England and the homosexuality he feared and repressed throughout his life. Psychologically acute without being sentimental, Forster’s relationships are described with compassion and great care. Galgut is a master at constructing strange, compelling landscapes, and Arctic Summer shifts seamlessly between staid, restricting England and Cairo and vibrant, pleasantly absurd India. Moments of gentle humor shine through the sparse prose, lending Forster a humanity that makes his story all the more heartbreaking.

Damon Galgut
Damon Galgut was born in Pretoria. His 2003 novel The Good Doctor won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region) and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In a Strange Room (Europa, 2010) was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2021, Galgut won the Booker Prize for The Promise (Europa, 2021). In 2013, Galgut was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

• Aug 29 2015
  A Passage to Now: "Galgut’s prose blends perfectly the spare and the lyrical, often letting gentle humor shine through. His pacing is flawless."
  
• Aug 25 2015
  India’s 2015 Hindu Lit for Life Festival featured Galgut as one of the authors. Video of Galgut’s panel discussion with Ahdaf Soueif and Rajmohan Gandhi on the topic, “Power to the People in Our Time” has been shared by the festival organizers.
  
• Jun 30 2015
  An interview with Damon Galgut on The Magwood on Books podcast about life of his subject EM Forster, and how he came to re-imagine the great author’s life.
  
• Jun 27 2015
  Damon Galgut announced as the winner of the 2015 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize on June 27th for ARCTIC SUMMER.
  
• Jun 16 2015
  Walter Scott Prize: "E.M. Forster, diffident, self-doubting and longing for the fulfilment of an affectionate relationship, springs to life in Damon Galgut's perfectly judged and sensitively written novel..."
  
• Jun 9 2015
  Hinterland: "Galgut shows us how race and class bring status and sexuality threatens it."