Matei Visniec, born 1956 in Rădăuţi, Romania, studied history and philosophy at the University of Bucharest. In 1987, during the communist dictatorship, he fled to France. Since then he's lived in Paris as a playwright and novelist, also working as a journalist for Radio France Inter. Visniec has written over 40 plays, which have been performed in thirty countries, for instance in the Royal Theatre/Stockholm, Maxim-Gorki-Theater/Berlin, Schauspielhaus Dusseldorf, Theatre de la Veillee de Montreal, Kaze-Theatre/Tokyo, Open Fist Theatre Company/Hollywood, Stary-Theatre/Warschau, Piccolo- Theatre/Mailand. He is also one of the most popular authors at the popular Festivals de Theatre d'Avignon. Since the end of the dictatorship in Romania, Matei Visniec is one of the most widely performed playwrights there.
