Michel Houellebecq, the French writer whose novels address sex tourism, sado-masochism and cloning, failed to show up for a scheduled reading tour of the Netherlands and Belgium this week and cannot be reached by his publishers.

“We really don’t know what is happening,” said Barbara Simons, a spokeswoman for Het Beschrijf, the literary organisation that arranged the tour. “It’s bizarre. There has been no news and he hasn’t arrived.”

Ms Simons said neither Houellebecq’s French publisher, nor his agent, nor his translator knows where the 53-year-old writer is. Houellebecq, who won France’s most prestigious literary prize last year, lives a reclusive life in southern Spain, according to Het Beschrijf.

Houellebecq lived for a number of years on Bere Island off the west Cork coast before moving to Spain.

His trademarks are dark humour, biting social criticism, frequent philosophical allusions and a bleak vision of human relationships. Viewed as a prophet and genius by some, Houellebecq has been accused by others of misogyny, inciting racial hatred, moral bankruptcy and pornography.

He was scheduled to read from La Carte et le Territoire (The Map and the Territory), the book for which he won the 2010 Prix Goncourt, on the occasion of its translation into Dutch. Readings were planned from Monday to today in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Brussels.

The new novel is the story of an artist called Jed Martin who falls for a beautiful Russian named Olga, gains success with his portraits, and becomes entangled in a police investigation.

In Atomised, Houellebecq's second novel, he took on the themes of sex addiction and molecular biology. The Possibility of an Island, published in 2005, is a science-fiction satire that encompasses cloning and Schopenhauer, while Platform deals with sex tourism, terrorism and prostitution.

He cites Baudelaire, Aldous Huxley, Kant, Thomas Mann and Bret Easton Ellis among his influences, while he has written a biography of horror writer HP Lovecraft.

A spokeswoman for Houellebecq’s French publisher, Flammarion Groupe in Paris, today said that she was not informed of the situation and couldn't comment.

Piet Joostens, who organised the readings, said he was not aware that anyone had reported Houellebecq’s absence to the police.

“I wouldn’t panic yet,” he said. “We have no concrete evidence that he is a missing person. Of course we are worried. It has happened before that he doesn’t answer e-mails, but it is rare for him not to show up to meet his public.”

Bloomberg