Antonio Tabucchi was born in Pisa in 1943. Tabucchi authored twenty critically acclaimed novels and short story collections, nine of which have been translated into English, together with numerous essays and plays. Twice shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, he has been awarded many prestigious prizes, including the Prix Medicis ¿anger for Indian Nocturne and the Premio Campiello, the Premio Viareggio and the Aristeion Prize for Pereira Maintains. Tabucchi was Emeritus professor at the University of Siena, and also taught at Bard College in New York, the Ecole de Hautes Etudes and the College de France in Paris. He died in March 2012.