Luis Sepúlveda Calfucura was a renowned Chilean writer and journalist. Born on October 4, 1949, in Ovalle, Chile, he was a committed communist militant and a fervent opponent of Augusto Pinochet's regime. During the 1970s, he was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship.

Sepúlveda authored numerous poetry books and short stories. He spoke several languages, including English, in which he wrote his first novel, El viejo que leía novelas de amor (The Old Man Who Read Love Stories).

Exiled during the Pinochet regime, most of his work was written in Germany and Spain, where he lived until his death on April 16, 2020, in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. He authored more than thirty books, translated into over fifty languages. His notable works include An Old Man Who Read Love Stories and The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Him to Fly.

Among his numerous awards are the Gabriela Mistral Poetry Award (Chile), the Primavera Novel Award (Spain), and the Chiara Award for Literary Career (Italy). He was also a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Toulon in France.