A prolific novelist, playwright, essayist, and translator, César Aira has published around forty novels, as well as short stories, essays, and plays. He is one of the most important authors in contemporary Latin American literature. He has taught at the University of Buenos Aires and at the University of Rosario in Argentina and has translated and edited books from France, England, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela. In 2002 he was a finalist for the Rómulo Gallegos prize.