Benjamin Labatut

Benjamin Labatut defies the confinements of categorization, creating his own, new hybrid genre that has charmed critics and readers alike. Crossing the boundaries between science and fiction, between the brilliant and the absurd, between the aspirational dreams and dystopic nightmares of scientific progress, Labatut’s writing forms a literary blend that invokes awe and occasional terror, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.

Shrouded in mystery, hard to reach, and translated in many languages, Labatut has already earned wide international acclaim for his work, while his book "When We Cease to Understand the World" stood out amongst the 2021 nominations for the International Booker Prize. With his 2023 book “The MANIAC,” Labatut tells the story of John von Neumann, the most intelligent human being of the 20th century, delving into the dark foundations and myths of our modern world and the nascent era of AI.

He was born in Rotterdam in 1980, grew up in The Hague, and now lives and writes in Santiago, Chile. While generally avoiding the limelight, in this rare opportunity, Labatut will appear in Athens, at the Onassis Stegi, in spring 2025, to talk to us about his exciting work.

Benjamin Labatut’s books are available in Greek, published by DOMA | books in Athens.