Carlos Fuentes was born on November 11, 1928 in Panama City, Panama. During his childhood he was raised in several locations that span North and South America. He married in 1959, though his marriage was relatively short lived, and in 1965 he followed the same path as his father, becoming a diplomat in London.
He then went on as ambassador in several capitals, such as Paris, and added to his impressive career by teaching courses in prestigious colleges like Harvard and Cambridge.
He published his first novel, La región más transparente, at the age of 30, giving readers a vivid insight in Mexican life and culture. He would go on to publish Las buenas conciencias in 1959, Aura and La muerte de Artemio Cruz in 1962. During the 1970's his works focused on a series of biographies about Latin American caudillos, which he called Los Padres de la Patria. In 1985 he published Gringo viejo, which became the first best-selling book in the United States by a Mexican author. In 1994 he published Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone, about his alleged affair with Hollywood actress Jean Seberg
Along with numerous novels, essays, screenplays and stories, Carlos Fuentes also writes about political and cultural topics for newspapers in Spain and Mexico.