Héctor Abad was born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1958, where he studied medicine, philosophy and journalism. After being expelled from university for writing a defamatory text against the Pope, he moved to Italy. Abad’s translations from the Italian include works by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and Umberto Eco. He now lives again in Colombia, writes a weekly column for Colombia’s national newspaper El Espectador, and is one of Latin America’s most important and successful authors.
Photograph © Daniela Abad