Alberto Manguel (*1948 in Buenos Aires) lived in France, England, Italy and Tahiti, reviewing, translating, editing, and reading. In 1980, Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi compiled The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. This publication marked the beginning of Manguel’s long association with publisher/editor Louise Dennys.
Manguel contributed regularly to Canadian newspapers and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, to the New York Times and the Svenska Dagbladet. In 1992, Manguel's novel, News from a Foreign Country Came, won the McKitterick Prize. He directed the Maclean Hunter Arts Journalism Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts for five years and was appointed Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Markin-Flanagan Program at the University of Calgary. He has received many prizes, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and honorary doctorates from the universities of Liège and Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge. He is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.