Mayra Montero was born in Havana in 1952 has lived in Puerto Rico for over 40 years. She has written The Last Night I Spent With You (1991) and Deep Purple (22nd Sonrisa Vertical Award, 2000), two memorable erotic stories, as well as her novels The Red of His Shadow (1993), In the Palm of Darkness (1995), The Messenger (1998), Captain of the Sleepers (2002), Dancing to Almendra (2006), and The Gentleman of St Petersburg (2014), which have made her one of the most distinguished authors in Spanish. Her work has been translated in the US, France, Germany and Italy.