Alberto Barrera Tyszka

Alberto Barrera Tyszka
Barrera Tyszka 2011
Born	18 February 1960 Caracas
Occupation	author and teacher
Nationality	Venezuelan
Notable works	The Sickness (2006)
Signature

Alberto José Barrera Tyszka (born 18 February 1960) is a Venezuelan writer. In 2006, he received the (Spanish) for his novel La enfermedad ("The Sickness").

Barrera Tyszka was born in Caracas, and grew up in Venezuela. He graduated from the Central University of Venezuela, where he is now a professor in the Department of Literature. In the 1980s, he participated in the poetry movements Tráfico and Guaire. His collaborations have appeared in diverse anthologies and publications from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, and Venezuela. He is a regular columnist (since 1996) for the daily newspaper El Nacional, and a regular contributor to the magazine Letras Libres. He has written telenovela screenplays in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

He has published four novels, a poetry collection, and three books of history, including Hugo Chávez sin uniforme: una historia personal (2005), the first biography of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez (co-authored with journalist Cristina Marcano). His literary influences include Fedor Dostoyevski, Alexandre Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Anton Chekhov, César Vallejo, Salvador Garmendia, and José Ignacio Cabrujas. In 2015 his novel Patria o muerte about Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez and his battle with cancer between 2011 and 2013, won the XI Premio Tusquets de Novela.