Louis de Bernières was born in London in 1954. In 1990 he published his first novel and was selected by Granta magazine as one of the “20 Best of Young British Novelists” in 1993. The following year, he published international bestseller, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel and has been translated into over eleven languages. De Bernières other novels include; The Red Dog (200), Birds Without Wings (2004) and A Partisan's Daughter (2008), which tells the story of a relationship between a young Yugoslav woman and a middle-aged English man around the time of Tito’s demise. It was short listed for the Costa Novel Award. His new book, Notwithstanding: English Village Stories, will be published in Autumn, 2009. As well as writing, de Bernières plays the flute, mandolin, clarinet and guitar, and performs regularly with the Antonius Players. He lives in Norfolk.