Carmen Laforet (Author) Born in Barcelona in 1921, Carmen Laforet spent her childhood in Las Palmas until, like the heroine of her novel, she returned to her native city to attend university. Her first novel Nada (Nothing) was published in 1945. She died in Madrid in 2004.Edith Grossman (Translator) Edith Grossman is the award-winning translator of major works by many of Latin America's most important writers. Born in Philadelphia, she attended the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California at Berkeley before receiving her PhD from New York University. She lives in New York City.