Javier Calvo (Barcelona, 1973) is widely regarded as one of Spain’s finest literary translators. His portfolio includes works by authors such as David Foster Wallace, J. M. Coetzee, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Peter Matthiessen, and Denis Johnson. He is also considered one of the country’s most promising literary voices, both at home and internationally—a promise confirmed when he was awarded the Biblioteca Breve Prize in 2012 for El jardín colgante (Seix Barral, 2012), the sequel to Corona de flores (Mondadori, 2010), which had already earned the Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize at the Semana Negra de Gijón.

Calvo is the author of the short story collection Risas enlatadas (Literatura Mondadori, 2001), hailed by critics as “a debut collection of personal, witty, and striking stories—some, quite simply, outstanding.”

His novels include Los ríos perdidos de Londres (Literatura Random House, 2005); El dios reflectante (Literatura Mondadori, 2003); Mundo maravilloso (Literatura Random House, 2007), which was shortlisted for the 2008 Fundación José Manuel Lara Prize; El jardín colgante (Biblioteca Breve Prize, 2012); and Piel de plata (2019). Among his shorter fiction are Suomenlinna (2010) and the novella Los ríos perdidos de Londres (2005), as well as the essay El fantasma en el libro (Seix Barral, 2016).

Over the years, his literary career has firmly established him as, in the words of critic J. A. Masoliver Ródenas (La Vanguardia), “one of the most powerful voices to have added a new dimension to contemporary Spanish fiction.” His work has been translated into English, French, German, and Italian.