Jorge Amado (1912–2001) was born in the state of Bahia, Brazil, whose society he portrays in such acclaimed novels as Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
Gregory Rabassa (translator; 1922–2016) was a National Book Award–winning translator whose English-language versions of works by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, and Jorge Amado have become classics in their own right.
Rivka Galchen (introduction) is one of The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” fiction writers and the author of the novels Atmospheric Disturbances and Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch. A contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, she lives in New York City.