Please Talk to Me: Selected Stories

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Short-story writer, novelist and essayist Liliana Heker was born in Buenos Aires in 1943. She founded, with Abelardo Castillo, the literary magazines El Escarabajo de Oro (1961–1974) and El Ornitorrinco (1977–1986), where she published essays and sustained polemics that went beyond the issues that stirred them. Heker published five short-story collections and was twice awarded the Konex Prize, granted to the best short-story books of each decade. She is also the author of two novels, Zona de clivaje and Elfin de la historia, and two nonfiction works, Las hermanas de Shakespeare and Diálogos sobre la vida y la muerte. Since 1978 she coordinates writing workshops, where she mentors many current Argentinian writers.

ALBERTO MANGUEL is an internationally acclaimed writer, translator, editor and critic. He is the author of numerous nonfiction books, including The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (coauthored with Gianni Guadalupi), A History of Reading, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey: A Biography, The Library at Night, A Reader on Reading and Curiosity. Manguel has also published novels in English (News from a Foreign Country Came) and Spanish (El regreso and Todos los hombres son mentirosos). Among his many awards are the Guggenheim Fellowship and an honorary doctorate from the University of Liège. Manguel is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

MIRANDA FRANCE is the author of books on Spain and Argentina, as well as two novels. A regular contributor to books pages, she also teaches creative writing and has translated various works of Latin American fiction, including Alberto Manguel’s All Men Are Liars.