Pedro Ángel Palou (Puebla, 1966) has been a chef, football referee, clothing salesman, higher education administrator, public administrator, television host and has published over 60 books in a range of genres, including short stories, poetry, academic books, essay and novel, and has received multiple awards. A doctor in the Social Sciences, with a specialty in the Sociology of Culture from El Colegio de Michoacán, his academic work has involved research into material culture. He has been Minister of Culture of his home state, Director of the Mexican Society of Authors’ writing school in Puebla, Rector of the University of the Americas, and guest researcher in Contemporary Studies at the University of Paris Descartes as well as at Dartmouth College, where he has been writer-in-residence. He has also lectured at Middlebury College. In Mexico he has been a member of the National Artists’ Network and the National Research Network. He is currently Head of the Department of Romance Languages at Tufts University.