Michael De Cock

Artistic director of KVS, Michael De Cock is a writer, director, and actor. Since 2017, he has been the artistic director of KVS.

De Cock’s bibliography currently includes around twenty titles, which have also found success on the international book market and have received numerous awards. For the past ten years, he has also focused on writing screenplays. He adapted his play Achter de wolken into a feature film directed by Cecilia Verheyden. The film became a box office hit in Belgium. In 2018, the film adaptation of his book series Rosie and Moussa by director Dorothée Van Den Berghe captured the hearts of many moviegoers. The film won an Ensor and was awarded Best Children’s Film by Cinekid.

De Cock’s books have been published in more than ten languages. For the past twenty years, he has written extensively about migration and Europe. In the Flemish context, he is regarded as one of the leading experts on the topic. Together with photographer Stephan Vanfleteren, De Cock traveled along the borders of "Fortress Europe" for the book Aller / Retour, which was also adapted into a film by Dorothée Van Den Berghe in 2021.

Michael De Cock studied Romance languages and literature and specialized in adapting and reinterpreting classical repertoire. The production Bovary, which he created with Carme Portaceli, was later adapted into a film by Jaco Van Dormael and won the MIFF Award in Milan. He later reworked the novel into a contemporary opera libretto.

In 2024, he published the book Only Imagination Can Save Us, a passionate plea for culture in our democracy. He also turned it into a solo performance that tours France and Belgium. Additionally, together with Junior Mthombeni, he created Hannibal (based on a historical novel he wrote) – an eclectic performance blending techno, opera, ancient history, and new migration stories into a truly unique show that is part of a European project and travels through Spain, France, the Netherlands, as well as Senegal and Ghana. The two had previously created L’homme de la Mancha together, which was performed in Montevideo, Madrid, Paris, and many other cities.

Together with Carme Portaceli, for whom he previously wrote Bovary and Mrs Dalloway, he will create a new production next year about the ‘forgotten’ and ‘erased’ woman, Mary Magdalene. De Cock will write the text for the piece, which will premiere in Barcelona in 2026.