Damon Galgut is a South African novelist and playwright. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise. He was previously shortlisted in 2003 and 2010 for the Booker Prize. Galgut was born on 12 November 1963 in Pretoria, South Africa. His father was from a Jewish family and his mother converted to Judaism. At the age of six, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Galgut was head boy of Pretoria Boys High School, matriculating in 1981. He then studied drama at the University of Cape Town.