Jacques Strauss was born and raised in Johannesburg. He attended an Afrikaans primary school and an English high school and completed a BA in English and Philosophy.
He scraped together a meagre existence working for community arts projects and writing plays for Auckland Theatre Company before moving to London to become a playwright. He kept a box under his bed of all the plays that were rejected over the years – including a particularly brilliant one-woman show he’d written for Maggie Smith. When he turned 30, he decided to try writing a novel instead and the result was The Dubious Salvation of Jack V which was published by Jonathan Cape and won the Commonwealth Regional Prize, Africa. Jacques’ follow-up novel The Curator was published in 2015.
Jacques is a freelance copywriter / producer and lives in Stockwell with his boyfriend.
Praise for The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.
‘Smart, charming, funny, highly astute and subtly political. A really terrific read’ - Douglas Coupland
Praise for The Curator
‘With its forcefully characterised anti-hero Werner, this is a book that will conjure favourable comparisons with other South African literary masters.’- Barry Forshaw Independent
‘Murder is everywhere you look in this dark and gripping novel, but it’s often achingly funny.”‘- Kate Saunders The Times