Jef Geeraerts

On the independence of the Congo he sent his wife and children back to Belgium and in August 1960 he himself returned to Belgium. During the next six years he was paid by the government (return program). After that time he needed to find a job to survive. He decided to become a writer and went to the University of Brussels to study Germanic languages.

Jef Geeraerts studied at Free University of Brussels, Our Lady College, Antwerp and colonial university of Belgium. The recorded working language is Flemish Dutch and Dutch. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are detective fiction and thriller. Works named in the authority record are De zaak Alzheimer. Distinctions recorded are Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord and Gouden Strop.

When he had finished his studies he wrote his first novel, Ik ben maar een neger ("I'm just a negro"), which put him on the map as extremely controversial. The book was based on his experience as military in the Congo. He wrote more of these politically motivated colonial books before he started his Gangreen series. There are four parts, Gangreen 1 (Black Venus), Gangreen 2 (De Goede Moordenaar), Gangreen 3 (Het Teken van de Hond) and Gangreen 4 (Het Zevende Zegel). These books were sexually explicit, which led to controversy in Belgium. His books were considered by some to be racist and pornographic. Geeraerts later became famous for his detective stories. Nowadays, he is a celebrated crime-novelist and several of his books (De zaak Alzheimer and Dossier K) have been filmed. In total Geeraerts wrote 35 novels, some plays and a radio drama. Two of his books were used for a film.

Geeraerts had three children from his first marriage, among these his daughter Ilse. In 1978, he married Eleonore Vigenon. In the last years of his life he lived in Baarle (Drongen), part of Ghent. He died from a heart attack in Ghent in May 2015.

Jef Geeraerts is recorded as having received Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord and Gouden Strop. Recorded at birth as Jozef Adriaan Anna Geeraerts.