Alberto Barrera Tyszka (Caracas, 1960) is a novelist, short story writer, TV screenwriter, and journalist. Barrera’s fictions explore the complexities and paradoxes of modern urban life in Venezuela. He has published three books of short stories and three novels, among them the 2006 Winner of Anagrama’s Herralde Novel Award, La enfermedad, published as The Sickness by Maclehose Press in the UK and by Tin House Press in the US, in a translation by Margaret Jull Costa. His most recent books are Crímenes (short stories; Anagrama, 2009, forthcoming from Maclehose Press in a translation by Margaret Jull Costa) and Rating (novel; Anagrama, 2011). Barrera has also published poetry. He is a columnist for El Nacional (Venezuela) and a regular contributor to Letras Libres (Mexico). He has co-authored, with Cristina Marcano, a remarkable biography of Hugo Chávez: Hugo Chávez sin uniforme (Debate, 2005). He lives in Caracas.