Arturo Uslar Pietri was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on the 16th May 1906. After gaining a doctorate in Political Science, he moved to Paris, the city where he would stay from 1929 to 1934. It was during this period, in fact, when he wrote "Las lanzas coloradas", which was to become one of his best-known works. Back in his own country, Uslar Pietri was to have an outstanding political career. He was the Minister for Education (1939-41), Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic (1941-43 and 1944-45), Minister of the Exchequer (1943) and Minister for Internal Affairs (1945).

Despite this evident political vocation, Uslar Pietri has defined himself as a non-committed writer, "because I have always exercised my freedom of conscience."

His constant preoccupation for cultural, educational and scientific matters led him to cooperate intensely, at different times, with UNESCO. From 1975 to 1978 he was the Permanent Ambassador Delegate to the organisation in Paris. Uslar Pietri has also been a minister of the Administrative Council and the Executive Committee of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, a UNESCO subsidiary, until, in 1976 he was elected as a member of the Executive Council of the organisation, and in 1978, Vice-President of the same Council.

Since almost forty years ago (at the time of writing), Arturo Uslar Pietri has been working constantly in journalism. He was published weekly, since 1946, in more than twenty newspaper in twenty Spanish-speaking countries, a column of comment on politics, culture and history, with the title "Pizarrón". Between 1969 and 1974, he ran "El Nacional", in Caracas; and from 1953 to 1987 he had a weekly television programme called "Valores humanos", consisting of a half-hour chat about history, politics, culture and all kinds of current world problems. He has also made two series for Venezuelan TV: "Cuéntame a Venezuela" and "Raíces venezolanas".

One may mention the following among his works:

Novels: "Las lanzas coloradas" (1931), "El camino de El Dorado" (1947), "El laberinto de fortuna" (1964), "Oficio de difuntos" (1976) and "La isla de Robinson" (1981).

Short stories: "Barrabás y otros relatos" (1928), "Red" (1936), "Treinta hombres y sus sombras" (1949), "Pasos pasajeros" (1965) and "Los ganadores" (1979).

Essays: "Las nubes" (1951), "Del hacer y deshacer de Venezuela" (1963), "La ciudad de nadie" (1960), "Oraciones para despertar" (1967), "En busca del nuevo mundo" (1968), "Vista desde un punto" (1971), "La otra América" (1974), "Viva voz" (1975), "Fantasmas de dos mundos" (1978), "Fachas, fechas y fichas" (1982) and "Godos, insurgentes y visionarios" (1985).

Poetry: "Manoa" (1972), "Escritura" (1978) and "El hombre que voy siendo" (1986).

Drama: "Chuo Gil" (1960).

Uslar Pietri´s works have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Rumanian, Czechoslovak, Russian, Portuguese, Polish, Hebrew, Swedish, Danish, Chinese and Bulgarian.

A clear defender of democratic systems, a subject about which he has written on numerous occasions, Uslar Pietri embodies liberal humanism in Spanish America. In his opinion, the cultural mix resulting from the three way meeting between the European, the Indian and the Negro, is the basis of Spanish-American literature.