Roberto Bolaño (1953 – 2003) was a Chilean writer and poet. He originally wrote poetry, but changed to write fiction for money (after all, he had a family to feed). He had a kind of tendency of taking an Ensemble Darkhorse from one book (or sometimes just a minor character) and write a story around that character. Even though he was from Chile, he spent very little time in the country and lived in Spain. He was also very critical of the writers in Chile, particularly Isabel Allende, decrying their (perceived) lack of talent. Which makes him somewhat of a Base Breaker among Chilean readers.