Born in Basel in 1975 to a French mother and a Slovakian father, Pascal Janovjak studied comparative literature and art history in Strasbourg before moving to the Middle East. His works include Coléoptères (Beetles), L’Invisible (The Invisible One) and À Toi (To You), which he wrote with Kim Thuy. He now lives in Rome. In 2020 he received the Swiss Literature Award, the Prix Michel-Detan and the Prix du public de la RTS. The Rome Zoo is his most recent novel.

Photo: Guy Buchheit