David Van Reybrouck
National Endowment for the Humanities / HAC Fellow
Biography:
David Van Reybrouck, considered one of Europe’s leading intellectuals, is a Flemish writer, archaeologist, cultural historian, poet, reporter, and pioneering advocate of participatory democracy. He is among the founders of the G1000 Citizens’ Summit, and his work has led to trials in deliberative democracy throughout Europe. He is the author of
Against Elections: The Case for Democracy, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and features an introduction by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His prize-winning book
Congo: The Epic History of a People sold over 500,000 copies and was praised by the
Washington Post as “a vivid panorama of one of the most tormented lands in the world.” His publications also include the theater pieces
Mission and
Para;
The European Constitution in Verse, nominated for the European Book Award in 2009; the novel
Drop Shadow; and the literary detective story
The Plague. Van Reybrouck is the founder of the Brussels Poets Collective and has been chairman of the PEN Flanders authors’ association since 2011. He studied archeology and philosophy at the universities of Leuven and Cambridge, obtained his doctorate at the University of Leiden, and holds an honorary doctorate from Université Saint-Louis in Brussels. He is serving as NEH/Arendt Center fellow for 2020–21.
Contact:
Department: Hannah Arendt Center