Guillermo Arriaga grew up in a violent neighbourhood in Mexico City. He lost his sense of smell at thirteen after being punched in the face too many times. He went to a liberal school where theatre studies was compulsory and by the time he was fifteen he'd acted, directed and produced around twenty or thirty plays. It was when he was recovering from a severe heart infection, which had been irritated by his boxing training, that he decided to become a writer.
