The Chessboard

“Arresting: the book moves slyly from the story of how Toussaint did not become a chess player to that of how he did become a writer…The chessboard of memory, in [his] engaging retelling, is anything but black-and-white.” —Times Literary Supplement

“At once a chronicle of lockdown and an autobiographical exercise, this singular account blends memories and reflections on writing and chess. Brilliant.” —Télérama

“This book is the story of a book being written…magnificent.” —Le Soir

“[Toussaint’s] impeccable, compartmentalized prose…continues to delight us.” —Transfuge

Praise for The Emotions:

“Toussaint cannily confronts the impossibility of the future with the fleeting hope of the present…It’s a stimulating ride.” —Publishers Weekly

“An ambitious chronicle of political and marital ambiguity.” —Kirkus Reviews

Jean-Philippe Toussaint is a Belgian novelist, photographer, and filmmaker. He is the author of eighteen books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages and won numerous literary prizes, including the 2005 Prix Médicis for Fuir (Running Away) and the 2009 Prix Décembre for La Vérité sur Marie (The Truth about Marie). In 2012 Toussaint created an exhibition at the Louvre Museum that combines photographs, videos, installation art, and performance pieces to convey books without using writing. His novel The Emotions was published by Other Press in 2025.

Ruth Diver holds a PhD in French and comparative literature from the University of Paris 8 and the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She won two 2018 French Voices Awards for her translations of Marx and the Doll by Maryam Madjidi, and Titus Did Not Love Berenice by Nathalie Azoulai. She also won Asymptote’s 2016 Close Approximations fiction prize for her translation of extracts of Maraudes by Sophie Pujas.

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