Laura Restrepo González

(Bogotá, Colombia, 1950)

Writer, politician and journalist, bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Arts from the University of the Andes and postgraduate in Political Science. In 1983, the president of Colombia, Belisario Betancur, added her to the negotiating commission to negotiate peace between the government and the M-19 guerrillas. Based on this experience, she wrote the report Historia de un entusiasmo (Story of a Fascination), for which she received death threats and was forced into exile in Mexico and in Madrid. She wasn’t able to return to Colombia until 1989, when the M-19 put down their arms and became a political party.

Her novel Dulce compañía (1997) won the French literary critics’ award (Prix France Culture), among other awards. She received the 2004 Alfaguara Novel Prize for Delirio.

She is currently living in Bogotá, where she is director of the Institute of Culture and Tourism.