Ricardo Piglia (1940–2017) was a major Argentine novelist and one of Latin America's most important contemporary thinkers and writers. His novels have been translated into English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. Two of his books—Nombre falso (1975) and Plata quemada (1997)—have inspired films. His novel La ciudad ausente (1992) was adapted for opera and shown at the Colón Opera House of Buenos Aires, with music by Gerardo Gandini. He received the Casa de las Américas Prize for La invasión (1967), the Boris Vian Prize for Respiración artificial (1980), the Nacional Prize for La ciudad ausente, and the Planeta Prize for Plata quemada.

He has also written widely on Arlt, Sarmiento, Borges, and Macedonio Fernández, and on the poetics of narrative. His most recent book, Formas breves, was awarded the Bartolomé March Prize in 2001 for the best literary essay published in Spain that year. Ricardo Piglia is the Walter S. Carpenter Professor of Language, Literature, and Civilization of Spain at Princeton University.