Zoé Valdés studied for two years at Havana University's Faculty of Philology. In Paris, from 1984 to 1988, she worked in the Delegation of Cuba to the UNESCO, and at the Cuba Mission's office of culture. From 1990 to 1995 she was assistant director of the magazine Cine Cubano and scriptwriter for the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.
She set out in the literary sphere in 1995 with the short tale La hija del embajador and the novel Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada: A Novel of Cuba. In 1996 she published I Gave You All I Had, a novel which was a finalist for the Planeta Prize of the same year. Since then she has published Cafe Nostalgia (1997), Dear First Love (1999), Milagro en Miami (2001) and Lobas de mar (2003). She is the author of several books of poetry, prominently including Vagón para fumadores (1996), a finalist for the Casa de las Américas Prize, and of two children's fiction books: Los aretes de la luna/The Earrings of the Moon (1999) and Luna en el cafetal (2003), both illustrated by Ramón Unzueta.
