Jorge Franco was born in Medellin (Columbia) in 1962. He studied literature at the Universidad Javeriana and film at the London Film School. His collection of short stories Maldito amor (Damned Love) won the Pedro Gómez Valderrama National Fiction Competition and his novel Mala noche (Bad Night) was awarded the first prize in the XIV Ciudad de Pereira National Novel Competition and was shortlisted for Conaculta's National Novel Prize. His novel Rosario Tijeras, which won him a national grant from the Ministry of Culture, was awarded the International Dashiell Hammett Prize in 2000 (Gijón, Spain), and has been translated into more than fifteen languages and successfully adapted for the screen and television. The film adaptation of his novel Paraíso Travel (Paradise Travel, 2001) became a box-office success for the Columbian movie industry. Melodrama (2006) has been adapted for the stage.