Roberto Bolaño

Roberto Bolaño (Santiago, Chile, 1953 - Barcelona, 2003), a novelist and poet, has established himself as one of the most important Latin American writers of our time. Born in Chile, he emigrated with his family to Mexico at the age of 13. In 1973, he decided to return to Chile to support Allende's reform program, but arrived just days after Pinochet's military coup. He was arrested for his participation in the resistance against the dictatorship, and after his release, he returned to Mexico. Later, he emigrated to Spain (1978) and settled permanently in Blanes, a small coastal town in Catalonia. He passed away in Barcelona in 2003 due to a liver dysfunction that had troubled him for over a decade. His first poetry collection was published in 1975. Although he began with poetry, he quickly turned to prose, writing short story collections, novellas, and novels. For his novel "The Savage Detectives," he was awarded the Herralde Prize (1998) and the Rómulo Gallegos Prize (1999), while for "Phone Calls" ("Τηλεφωνήματα," 2009, Agra Publications), he received the Premio Municipal de Santiago de Chile in 1998, the highest literary distinction in Chile. His last novel, "2666" (Agra Publications, 2011), is considered the pinnacle of his fictional prowess and won the Salambo Prize for the best Spanish-language novel in 2004, a year after the author's death. His work has been translated into many languages, and his influence is regarded as one of the most significant in contemporary Spanish-language literature.