Marcos Aguinis is a prize-winning, internationally bestselling author. Born the son of European Jewish immigrants in Argentina in 1935, Aguinis learned at age seven that his grandfather and the rest of his family in Europe had been killed by the Nazis. Describing this as the defining moment of his life, Aguinis says it is what drove him to write, in an effort to repair the “broken mechanism of humanity.” He published his first book in 1963 and since then has published thirteen novels, fourteen essay collections, four short-story collections, and two biographies covering historical, political, and artistic themes. Aguinis was the first author outside of Spain to win the prestigious Planeta Prize for his book The Inverted Cross, and his novel Against the Inquisition was praised by Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa as a “stirring song of freedom.” When democracy was reinstated in Argentina in 1983, Aguinis became secretary of culture, for his brave fight against dictatorship and the defense of human rights, and sponsored the renowned “cultural renaissance.” For more information, visit www.aguinis.net.
