The acclaimed, publicity-shy author of Smilla's Sense of Snow (published in Britain as Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow) shares his wealth with people in need. After the 1993 breakthrough of Smilla � TIME called it the best novel of the year � Hoeg decided to donate all the profits from a later novel, The Woman and the Ape, to women and children in the developing world.
Inspired by his travels in Africa and his Kenyan wife, the 46-year-old Hoeg in 1996 established the Lolwe Foundation, which supports grass-roots projects aimed at reducing poverty in Africa and Tibet. So far, the foundation has distributed some $850,000. Tanzanian women have received loans to establish small businesses; exiled Tibetan nuns in Nepal have been given a grant; and in the East African Masai country, cattle herders have received help to construct corn mills. "These mills are a major asset for the cattle herders, and are often operated by women. Without the support of the Lolwe Foundation, several of them would never have been built," says Uffe Larsen, of the Danish NGO Utamaduni project.

Ulla Plon Time/Europe April 20 2003