Born and raised in Costa Rica, Jacques Sagot is a writer and concert pianist who contributes regularly to Costa Rican newspapers. "The Enigma of Ursa Major" is from his second collection of short stories, Full Moon Stories, published in 2001, and for which Sagot received the Aquileo Echeverria National Prize and the National Story Prize. His first collection of stories was published in 1998. He holds doctorates in both French Literature and Musical Arts from Rice University.