Marcio Veloz Maggiolo was born in Santo Domingo in 1936 and, in 1996, he was awarded the National Prize for Literature for his work as a whole, from which the novels The man with the accordion (Siruela, 2003), The Diffuse Biography of Sombra Castañeda (Siruela, 2005) and Cabaret Rites (Siruela, 2007). In 2006, he was awarded the José María Arguedas Prize from Casa de las Américas, Cuba, for the novel The Fly Soldier (Siruela, 2004), which also appeared as a finalist for the 2005 Lara Prize. Several of his stories have been included in the Dominican tales anthology (Siruela, 2002).