(Lisbon, 1942), writer and psychiatrist, is one of the most widely read and translated Portuguese novelists. After studying Psychiatry, he served in the Portuguese army during the Angolan War of Independence, an experience that was to mark his destiny and career. His works deal with the lights and shadows of Portugal’s recent history, the brutality of its colonial regime in Africa, the Salazar dictatorship and the coming of democracy. He has received numerous prizes, including the Camões Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, the Austrian Prize for European Literature, the Union of Latin Writers and Artists Prize, and also the French Order of Arts and Letters. Notable among his novels are Memoria de elefante (Elephant Memory, 1979), La muerte de Carlos Gardel (The Death of Carlos Gardel, 1994), Manual de inquisidores (1996 – published in English as The Inquisitors’ Manual, 2003, Grove Press), Esplendor de Portugal (1997 – published in English as The Splendour of Portugal, 2011, Dalkey Archive Press), and the novel for which he received the 1999 Association of Portuguese Writers Grand Prize for the Novel, Exhortación a los cocodrilos (Exhortation to the Crocodiles). He has recently published Acerca de los pájaros (Mondadori, 2008 – which appeared in English as An Explanation of the Birds, 1991, NY), Mi nombre es legión (My Name Is Legion – Mondadori, 2009), El archipiélago del insomnio (Archipelago of Insomnia – Mondadori, 2010) and forthcoming is his ¿Qué caballos son aquellos que hacen sombra en el mar? (What Horses Are Those Casting a Shadow on the Sea? – Mondadori, 2011).