Henry De Berniere

Born in London in 1954, Louis de Bernières grew up in Surrey and later studied in Manchester and London. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked a wide range of jobs, including mechanic, motorcycle messenger, and English teacher in Colombia.

Those experiences helped shape his early fiction, especially his Latin American trilogy: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord, and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. He became widely known for Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1994), a historical novel set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the Second World War, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book.

He is also known for his love of music, and musical ideas often run through his work. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006, he has built a reputation for novels that are vivid, humane, and full of memorable characters.