Rafael Chaparro Madiedo was a Colombian writer, born on December 12, 1963, in Bogotá, D.C., Colombia, and passed away on April 18, 1995. He gained recognition by winning Colombia's 1992 National Literature Prize for his novel Opium in Clouds (Opio en las nubes), which, despite its initial reception, has achieved cult status among young adults in Colombia.

Chaparro was influenced by the Colombian novelist Andrés Caicedo and twentieth-century American literary and art movements. He graduated from the Colombian-Swiss school Helvetia and later from the Universidad de los Andes with a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature.

Beyond writing, he co-founded the magazine Hojalata and worked as a cultural editor for the magazine Consigna. In 1987, he graduated with a thesis on Heidegger and subsequently traveled to Montpellier. Upon returning, he worked at the daily La Prensa. In 1989, he met Ava Echeverri, his wife until 1993.