Rubén Abella (Valladolid, 1964) has a PhD in English Studies from the University of La Rioja and has completed postgraduate studies at Tulane University (New Orleans, United States) and the University of Adelaide (Australia). He combines writing with photography and teaching. His first novel, La sombra del escapista, won the 2022 Torrente Ballester Prize for Fiction, and his second, El libro del amor esquivo, was a finalist for the Nadal Prize in 2009. In 2007, No habría sido igual sin la lluvia won the Mario Vargas Llosa NH Short Story Prize. His latest novels are Baruc en el río, California (2015), Ictus (2020) and Dice la sangre (2024).