Manuel Rivas was born in Coruna, Galicia, in 1957. He graduated in Media Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid and then worked as a journalist in the press, radio and television. As an author, he is best known for his six novels and six collections of short stories. Five volumes have been published in English: The Carpenter's Pencil (2001, novel), In the Wilderness (2006, novel), Books Burn Badly (2010, novel), Vermeer's Milkmaid (2002, stories), Butterfly's Tongue (2011, stoies). He is also a highly-regarded poet and essayist. All of his literary work is written in Galician. Some of his work has been filmed in Spain: La lengua de las mariposas (The Language of Butterflies), a story contained in his novel Que me quieres, amor?, directed by Jose Luis Cuerda, and El lapiz del carpintero (The Carpenter's Pencil), directed by Anton Reixa.