A. G. Porta was born in Barcelona in 1954. He gained prominence in the Spanish literary world when he won the Ambito Literario de Narrativa Prize in 1984 for a novel written with Roberto Bolano. After a silence of over ten years-which Bolano claimed that Porta spent reading and rereading Joyce-he began publishing novels to widespread critical acclaim.

"Gon alo M. Tavares burst onto the Portuguese literary scene armed with an utterly original imagination that broke through all the traditional imaginative boundaries... I've predicted that in thirty years' time, if not before, he will win the Nobel Prize." --Jos Saramago The literature of Gon alo M. Tavares is radical, and does not allow us to remain indifferent. On the contrary, it makes us uncomfortable and hurt. Tavares is a master of the art of shocking the reader. -- Jos Castello, Ipsilon His writing is surreal, fun, poetic, profound, dramatic, a discourse of shock, a small bomb that pushes past the usual boundaries, the standard patterns. -- Giulia Lancini [With] insights and commentaries about destiny, language, peacetime and wartime that culminate in an ironic ending that will prompt readers to question the characters' values and transformations. This is an interesting, albeit challenging work. Publishers Weekly Remarkable. Asymptote Tavares writes simply, starkly, succintly... An impressive work... Complete Review