Paloma Díaz-Mas (Madrid, 1954) is an research professor for the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)) and was a professor of literature at the University of the Basque Country for eighteen years. She has published academic works on ballads and oral literature, Spanish medieval literature and Sephardic culture. At the age of just nineteen she published her first book of flash fiction (recently re-published as an e-book with the title 'Ilustres desconocidos' ('Illustrious Strangers')). She has published various titles with Anagrama including the novels 'El rapto del Santo Grial' ('The Theft of the Holy Grail') (shortlisted for the first Premio Herralde novel prize in 1983), 'El sueño de Venecia' ('The Dream of Venice') (winner of the Premio Herralde novel prize in 1992) and 'La tierra fértil' ('The Fertile Land') (winner of the Premio Euskadi 2000 and shortlisted for the Premio de la Crítica); the short story collection 'Nuestro milenio' ('Our Millenium') (1987); and the autobiographical accounts 'Una ciudad llamada Eugenio' ('A City Called Eugenio') (1992) and 'Como un libro cerrado' ('Like A Closed Book') (2005).