Roberto Bolaño was a highly influential Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist. After a youth spent between Chile and Mexico, he eventually settled in Spain, where he wrote his most famous works. His novels, including "The Savage Detectives" and "2666," are known for their experimental structures and melancholic, wandering characters. Posthumously, he became one of the most celebrated and significant voices in contemporary Latin American literature.