Andrés Trapiello was born in Manzaneda de Torío, León, in 1953. A prolific and highly prestigious author, among his novels are El buque fantasma (Plaza & Janés International Novel Prize, 1993), La malandanza, Días y noches, as well as the first ten volumes of his diaries, collected as Salón de pasos perdidos. Among his essay collections are Clásicos de traje gris, Las vidas de Miguel de Cervantes, Las armas y las letras, Literatura y guerra civil 1936- 1939 (First Don Juan de Borbón Prize, 1995) and La noche de los Cuatro Caminos. His first four books of poetry were published in an edition entitled Las tradiciones, which was followed by the books Acaso una verdad (National Critics’ Prize) and Rama desnuda.
His novel Los amigos del crimen perfecto (Destino, 2004), translated into numerous languages, was awarded the prestigious Nadal Prize. Al morir don Quijote (Destino, 2005) was awarded the Fundación José Manuel Lara Award to the Best Book of the Year according to Spanish publishers. His most recent novel, Los confines (Destino, 2009) has just been published.