Ricardas Gavelis was born in 1950 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He finished his studies in theoretic physics at the University of Vilnius in 1973, the same year his first published stories appeared in the journal Nemunas. He worked at the Institute of Physics and Mathematics for several years before publishing his first book, a collection of short stories, in 1976. He has written seven novels and five short story collections; in addition, he worked at various cultural journals from 1978 to 1982, and as a columnist for a daily newspaper and a newsmagazine from 1992-2002, writing on politics and economics. His work has been translated into French, Polish, German, Latvian, Swedish, English and Finnish. Vilnius Poker, considered by some to be his masterpiece, was a best seller in Lithuania and has gone through six editions. He died suddenly in 2002.
