Carlos Ruiz Zafon was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1964.
He studied with the Jesuits and then went to university to train in journalism. After graduating, he began working in the advertising industry.
At the beginning of the 90’s, he began his career as a writer, mainly writing literary texts dedicated to children and young people.
In 1993 he settled in Los Angeles (United States), where he spent a few years writing screenplays while developing his career as a novelist.
His first novel for adults, “The wind’s shadow“(1993), was a great bestseller, despite the neglect of Spanish literary criticism, although not the international one (which hailed it as one of the great literary revelations of recent times).
This novel has been translated into 45 languages, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and has won numerous international awards.
Zafon He is also the author of three other young adult novels titled “The midnight palace“(1994),”The lights of september“(1995) and”Marine” (1999).
Zafón is the contemporary Spanish author whose work has been translated into more languages (45), ahead of Javier Sierra (42) and Juan Gómez-Jurado (41). In his agile and fast, almost cinematic style, dialogue and action are privileged over reflection and formal experimentation, in marked contrast to traditional Spanish literature.
In 2007 a compilation entitled “The Mist Trilogy“comprising precisely”The Prince of Mist“,”The lights of september” Y “The midnight palace“.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon launched in April 2008 his new work, entitled “The game of the angel“, a prequel to”The wind’s shadow“, with a circulation of one million copies in the Editorial Planeta, which has considered that this launch is a historic milestone in Spain.
His most recent work was “Juanlu“, which was released in 2009 by the Editorial Edebé.
After several years of living in Los Angeles, Ruiz Zafon He returned to his native Barcelona in 2006.