Alejandro Zambra is a Chilean writer, poet, and critic. He currently teaches literature at the Diego Portales University in Santiago. His first novel, Bonsai was awarded Chile's Literary Critics' Award for Best Novel. He is also the author of The Private Lives of Trees and Ways of Going Home, which won the Altazor prize and the National Council Prize for Books, both for the best Chilean novel. He was selected as one of the Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists by Granta in 2010.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Megan McDowell has translated many modern and contemporary South American authors, including Alejandro Zambra, Arturo Fontaine, Carlos Busqued, Alvaro Bisama and Juan Emar. Her translations have been published in The New Yorker, McSweeney's, Words Without Borders, Mandorla, and Vice, among others. She lives in Zurich, Switzerland.