Gary Barker is a child psychologist, human rights activist and writer who has spent his career working with men and boys in Latin America and Africa to overcome and end violence. An American by birth, he has lived for more than 20 years in Latin America, including Central America, Colombia and his second home, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His work to engage men and boys in ending violence against women has been recognized by various UN agencies, the World Bank, various governments and international development and human rights organizations. He has previously published several works of non-fiction, including Dying to be Men: Youth, Masculinity and Social Exclusion (Routledge, 2005). He has co-written and produced a series of prize-winning cartoon videos on violence prevention and gender issues for children and youth that are widely used in Latin America. He was awarded fellowships by Ashoka-Social Entrepreneurs and by the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) for his pioneering work with men and boys to prevent violence. His fiction emerges from experiences of living and working in Latin America and Africa and incidents of recovery, resilience and hope in places frequently assumed to have none. He and his bi-national family divide their time between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Washington, DC, USA.