Luis López Nieves

Luis López Nieves(born January 17, 1950) is one of the most influential and best-selling Puerto Rican authors in history. He has won the National Literature Prize on two occasions: first, in 2000, with his book of historical short stories The True Death of Juan Ponce de León; second, in 2005, with his novel Voltaire's Heart. He published two other books including Seva, and Writing for Rafa. His short stories have been published in Latin American and Spanish anthologies.

López Nieves created and is the director of the first Master's Program in Creative Writing of Latin America, at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, in San Juan. He also founded and directs Ciudad Seva Digital Library (Ciudad Seva), that has received more than 63 million visitors from all over the world (in March 2013).

López Nieves has a BA in General Studies from the University of Puerto Rico; also an MA in Hispanic Literature and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, both from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

He has collaborated with several newspapers and written two TV miniseries. He has written the scripts for PSA advertisements. He has been visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston and was a Ford Foundation Fellow.

During two year he wrote his column Byzantine Letters (Cartas Bizantinas) in the largest newspaper of Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día.

His books The True Death of Juan Ponce de León (2000) and Voltaire's Heart (2005) have won the National Literature Prize. Additional books he has published include Seva and Writing for Rafa. His short stories have been published in Latin American and Spanish anthologies. In 2009 he published his latest novel, Galileo's Silence (El silencio de Galileo), simultaneously in Spain and in Latin America.