Fernando Contreras Castro, born January 4, 1963, in San Ramón, Costa Rica is an award-winning writer whose work challenges the limits of conventional genres and political thought. Two of his novels, Los peor and El tibio recinto de la oscuridad, received the Premio Nacional Aquileo J. Echeverría, Costa Rica's highest literary honor. When La Nacion awarded his 2012 Fragmentos de la tierra prometida with its Áncora award, however, Contreras wrote a public letter rejecting the prize because of his political differences with the newspaper, which he said "lacks the moral authority to judge the quality of national artistic production." Contreras holds a Degree in Spanish literature from the University of Costa Rica in San Jose, where he is now on the faculty.