Jef Geeraerts, an author much admired by Henry Miller, was born in 1930 in Antwerp and is Belgium's best known author after Georges Simenon. He was educated in Jesuit schools, spent time as a colonial administrator and army officer in the Belgian Congo. He gained international acclaim with his Gangrene Cycle, four novels based on his experience in the Congo. Brian Doyle is a well known translator from the Dutch and lives in Belgium.