Julio Cortázar was born 1914 in Brussels to Argentinean parents and raised largely in Argentina. He completed a degree in literature and became a teacher, teaching for ten years before becoming a translator of literature, including the works of Edgar Allan Poe. His opposition to the Perón regime resulted in his permanent move to France in 1951, although he remained active in Latin American politics, supporting the Cuban revolution, the Allende regime in Chile and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

He had published poems and plays since the thirties before having major success with a collection of short stories called Bestiario, 1951. In 1963 his revolutionary novel, Rayuela (Hopscotch) gained him an international reputation and proved greatly influential to other Latin American writers. He won several prizes for his work and is considered one of the 'great masters of the fantastic short story'.

Cortázar died in Paris in 1984.

• http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Julio_Cortazar.htm
• http://www.lanset.com/bookfolk/cortazar.htm
  (has links to some texts, a bibliography)
• http://www.trill-home.com/cortazar/
  (good links)
• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cortaz.htm