Luan Starova was born on the 14th of August, 1941 in Pogradec. He left Albania with his family and settled in Skopje (in what was then the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, one of the constituent republics of Yugoslavia), where he completed his BA in Languages and Literature. He then received both a Masters and PhD in Zagreb in French and Comparative Literature. Read More He studied French literature at the Sorbonne. He was a university professor, and then served as ambassador of the former Yugoslavia to Tunis and the Palestinian Authority. He later became the first ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to France, Spain, Portugal, and UNESCO. He is a member of the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences where he now works and writes. He is the author of numerous works, many of which have received awards. The most well-known of his works is the autobiographical cycle Balkan Saga, of which ten volumes have been published so far. My Father's Books is the first work in the cycle. His books have appeared in more than fifteen languages, but the segment featured in Words without Borders is the first to be featured in English.