Joris Escher was born in Amsterdam as the youngest child of a publisher and an English teacher. He grew up living with his parents and two sisters in the protected shadowy town of Laren, some 20 miles from Amsterdam, where his great-uncle M.C. Escher spent the last years of his life. After earning university degrees in Rotterdam and Leiden, Joris Escher began to write seriously in Paris with little success. He started a short career working as an advisor for mayor corporations in Europe, Africa and Latin America, after which he decided to establish and direct, together with his best friend, an exhibition center and a publishing house for visual artists from Asia and Latin American. Before writing Becoming Escher, Joris Escher has been designing and leading sustainable social change-projects, especially in the field of water. Becoming Escher is his debut. Currently Joris Escher is working on his second book.
Becoming Escher proves it: only the endlessly multi-layered language of the imagination is capable of catching the man and artist in Mauk. An ingenious and far-reaching book. --Jan Vantoortelboom, winner of the Boekenbon Literature Award 2023