Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar grew up in Buenos Aires and moved to Paris in 1951. In the 1940s, he translated works by Edgar Allan Poe, André Gide, Daniel Defoe, and Jean Giono. He was active in Latin American politics, refused a chair at the University of Buenos Aires because of his opposition to the Perón regime, and donated his Prix Médicis prize money to the United Chilean Front. During his years in France, Cortázar worked for four months as a translator for UNESCO and devoted the rest of the year to his writing and other loves such as the jazz trumpet. His works include Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, Hopscotch, Diary of Andrés Fava, and Cronopios and Famas.