Pius Alibek was born 1955 in Ankawa in Kurdish Iraq into a Chaldean-Assyrian family and studied English in a Jesuit seminar in Bagdad. After completing his military service he went to Barcelona. He speaks Aramaic, Arabic, Kurdish, English and Spanish as well as Catalan, which he uses for his literary
Pilar Velasco Acedo was born in Madrid, where she later studied journalism. She has been working for Cadena SER, the oldest Spanish national radio station, since 2006. She writes for various digital publications. Pilar Velasco also wrote political reports for Interviú magazine and worked for various TV stations. She attended
Pepe Ribas was born in 1952 in Barcelona, where he also studied law later. In 1974 he founded the independent journal “ajoblanco” (“white garlic”), one of the most influential cultural magazines in the Spanish-speaking world. It was a legendary publication in the times of the “transición”. Young democrats had to
is a porn producer, actress, and feminist. In 2016, she founded the platform Lustery.com, where couples can upload their own sex videos and on which blog she regularly writes. Paulita Pappel is curator and co-organizer of the Porn Film Festival Berlin and lives in Berlin. She has collaborated with many
born in Andalusia in 1978, is a high school teacher and one of the most successful young authors in Spain today. The last two of his five novels, »Democracia« (2012) and »Los libros repentinos« (2015; tr: The Books Which Reappeared) gained him a large readership and the praise of commentators,
Paco Roca, or Francisco José Martínez Roca in full, was born in 1969 in Valencia, Spain. He has been an avid consumer of comic books since childhood, beginning with such classics as the »Asterix« and »The Adventures of Tintin.« His stylistic influences include artists such as Richard Corben, Carlos Giménez
Oriol Canosa was born in Tarragona, Catalonia in 1975. He is a bookseller and children’s book author, which are, according to his own statement »two very lucrative occupations that have enabled him to amass a small fortune that makes him one of the ten richest people on his landing.« His
Muhsin Al-Ramli, also known as Muhisin Mutlak Rodhan, was born in 1967 in northern Iraq. In 1988, he began working as a journalist and newspaper editor in Iraq and Jordan and wrote columns and reportages for various magazines in the Arabic-speaking world. He has lived in Madrid since 1995. He
Miquel de Palol was born in Barcelona in 1953 and studied architecture. He made his literary début with poems. His first novel, »El jardí dels set crepuscles« (1989; t: The garden of the seven twilights), was distinguished with five Catalan and Spanish literary prizes and has been printed twice in
Mathias Énard was born in Niort, France, in 1972. He worked towards a university degree in contemporary art before beginning, in 1992, to study Arabic and Persian in Tehran, Egypt, Venice and Damascus. He subsequently taught French in a village in Syria for two years. Until 2010 he taught Arabic
Mario Vargas Llosa was born in 1936 in Arequipa, Peru, and grew up in Bolivia, northern Peru and Lima. There he studied literature and law and received his doctorate in Madrid. Together with García Márquez, Cortázar, and Fuentes, he belongs to the quartet of the boom in Latin American literature.
Mariana Chiesa Mateos was born in La Plata in 1967, where she studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Plata and graduated in 1992. She worked as an illustrator for the Argentinian newspaper »Clarin« and other periodicals from 1993 before moving to Barcelona in 1997. Her
