Born in Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia, in 1947, Dar�o Jaramillo Agudelo received a B.A. in economics and a law degree in 1970 from the Universidad Javeriana in Bogot�; he taught there, later working at a law firm, and then as the manager of a department store. He published his first book of poetry, Historias , in 1974; his second, Tratado de ret�rica , won Colombia's National Poetry Prize. His next four collections— Poemas de amor (1986), Del ojo a la lengua (1995), Cantar por cantar (2001), and Gatos (2005)—established his reputation. In 1985 he became Cultural Chief of Banco de la Rep�blica in 1985, and also became a novelist, publishing La muerte de Alec (1983), Cartas… cruzadas (1995), Novela con fantasma (1995), Memorias de un hombre feliz (2000), El juego del alfiler (2002), and, most recently, La voz interior (2006). He is currently at work on a seventh novel.