Juan Guillermo Sánchez was born in Bakatá-Andes in 1980. He has published the poetry books Rio (2010) and Salvia (2014); the book of short stories Diarios de nada (2011); the novels Balada / Track (2012) and Elevador (2015); the anthology Indigenous Message of Water (2014); and the research project Memory and Invention in the Poetry of Humberto Ak'abal (2011). In 2016, he was awarded with the National Prize for Literature in Colombia, granted by the University of Antioquia. He is currently a professor at UNC-Asheville.