Born in Mexico City in 1951, Alberto Ruy Sánchez is the author of books of fiction, essays, and poetry, which have been translated into many languages. He is best known for a series of novels, which take place in the Moroccan city of Mogador, and explore the nature of desire: Los nombres del aire (1987), En los labios del agua (1996 ), Los jardines secretos de Mogador: Voces de tierra (2001), and La mano del fuego: Un Kama Sutra involuntario (2007). In 2005, Ruy-Sánchez published a companion book to the Mogadorian tetralogy entitled Nueve veces el asombro: Nueve veces nueve cosas que dicen de Mogador (Poetics of Wonder: Things They Say about Mogador).Since 1988, Alberto Ruy-Sánchez has been the editor in chief of Latin America’s premier editorial house, Artes de México, which has received more than a hundred international awards. In addition to many other honors, he was decorated by the French Government as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2000. For more information, visit the author’s website: www.albertoruysanchez.com.