Louis de Bernières, born on 8 December 1954, is a prominent English novelist celebrated for his historical war novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993, he was highlighted as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine. The following year, Captain Corelli's Mandolin won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book and was shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. This novel has been translated into over 11 languages and has become an international best-seller.

Before embarking on his writing career, de Bernières had a diverse range of jobs including landscape gardener, motorcycle messenger, and car mechanic. He also taught English in Colombia, influencing the style and settings of his first three novels: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990), Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord (1991), and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (1992), all of which draw heavily from South American culture.

On 16 July 2008, de Bernières was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts by the De Montfort University in Leicester, an institution he previously attended when it was Leicester Polytechnic. Politically, he identifies as Eurosceptic and has expressed support for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.