Paul Benjamin Auster was an American author and director whose writing blends absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction, and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy (1987), Moon Palace (1989), The Music of Chance (1990), The Book of Illusions (2002), and The Brooklyn Follies (2005). His books have been translated into more than forty languages.

He was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 1992 and received the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature in 2006. Auster's other honors include the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for numerous awards including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Edgar Award, and the Man Booker Prize.