Salvador Plascencia was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and raised in El Monte, California. His debut novel, The People of Paper, was named a best book of the year by San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times,

and Boldtype and has been translated into ten languages. His fiction and reviews have appeared in McSweeney’s, Tin House, and The Los Angeles Times. He is the recipient of the Bard Fiction Prize and the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for new Americans, its first fellow in fiction. In 2010, Poets and Writers named Plascencia one of the "Fifty of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World." He lives in Los Angeles.   

Matthew Stuart