Kiko ama (1971) was born in Sant Boi de Llobregat, on the outskirts of Barcelona. His father was a rugby player and his mother an assistant at the local psychiatric hospital. He dropped out of school at seventeen to work as a mod, kleptomaniac, record store clerk, newsstand vendor, cashier at McDonald's, assembly line worker at Seat Martorell, campsite security guard, mail carrier, and waiter at a large hotel. He has published the novels The day I leave, I won't tell anyone. (2003) Things that go BOOM (2007) Runway Breakers (2009)You're the best, Cienfuegos (2012) and Before the hurricane (2018), all published by Anagrama. He is also the author of two non-fiction books, A thousand violins (Random House Mondadori 2011) and Chap chap (Blackie Books 2015). He writes regularly for Babelia. El País, El Periodico and Culture/S of La Vanguardia, and since 2011 has co-directed the Primera Persona festival at the CCCB.