In its conception the literature prize belongs to days when a writer could still be thought of as, by virtue of his or her occupation, a sage, someone with no institutional affiliations who could offer an authoritative word on our times as well as on our moral life.

M. In a speech given on his behalf by Hugo Weaving in Sydney on 22 February 2007 Coetzee railed against the modern animal husbandry industry.   – Coetzee reviews Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and Lois More Overbeck (eds) (2009).

Coetzee has been described as "inarguably the most celebrated and decorated" living writer in the Anglosphere. " Coetzee (/kʊtˈsiː/ kuut-SEE; born 9 February 1940) is a novelist essayist linguist translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. Before receiving the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature he was awarded the CNA Prize (thrice) the Prix Femina Étranger The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Booker Prize (twice) among other accolades.