Zócalo Public Square

With internationally acclaimed novels that sell millions of copies in 45 countries and 30 languages, Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a writer for a global age. Zafón, born in Barcelona and living in Los Angeles, where he first came to write screenplays, cites as his influences the 19th century British, Russian, and French giants — Dickens, Tolstoy, Balzac. But he also takes inspiration from the great American crime fiction — including the Los Angeles noir master Raymond Chandler — and Hollywood movies, which help him visualize the rich worlds he creates in his novels. Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind, and most recently of The Angel’s Game, visited Zócalo to chat with The Agony Column’s Rick Kleffel, to discuss his life and his art.