Arturo Uslar Pietri (Caracas, May 16, 1906 - February 26, 2001), was a Venezuelan intellectual, lawyer, journalist, writer, television producer and politician.
He was the eldest son of the marriage between the general Arturo Uslar Santamaría and Helena Pietri Paúl. Among his ancestors are Johann von Uslar, a German who fought in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and then in the Venezuela's independence. Uslar Pietri was raised in that house and in Maracay (Aragua), where he published some stories in teen magazines.
His childhood and teenage years were framed by the Venezuelan provinces: Los Teques, Maracay, Cagua. In 1915, he met a fellow who exerted a significant influence on him and who would share his intellectual growth: Carlos Eduardo Frias. He studied political science at the Central University of Venezuela in the Venezuelan capital city.
Uslar Pietri was an early reader of modernist and symbolist writers as Eugenio de Castro, Gomez Carrillo, Rémy de Gourmont, Darío, Lugones, Herrera y Reissig, Horacio Quiroga, Valle Inclán, and his initial writing was marked by these developments.
**Awards**
.El Nacional Best Short Story Award (1949)
.National Prize for Literature (1954 and 1982)
.National Journalism Award (1971)
.The Miguel de Cervantes Hispanic-American Journalism Award (1972)
.Prince of Asturias Award (1990)
.Légion d'honneur Grand-Croix (Grand Cross) (1990)
.Rómulo Gallegos Prize for Best Novel (1991)
