Writer of fiction, essays, literary criticism and history.
    He is the autor of the novels Neguijón (Alfaguara, 2005) and Libro de mal amor (RBA, 2001), and the short story collections España, aparta de mí estos premios (Páginas de Espuma, 2009), Helarte de amar (Páginas de Espuma, 2006), Ajuar funerario (Páginas de Espuma, 2004), Un milagro informal (Alfaguara, 2003), Inquisiciones Peruanas (Renacimiento, 1997), A Troya, Helena (Los Libros de Hermes, 1993) and Tres noches de corbata (AVE, 1987). He has written the books of essays rePUBLICANOS (Algaba Essay Prize, 2008), Mi poncho es un kimono flamenco (Sarita Cartonera, 2005) and El Descubrimiento de España (Nobel, 1996), and his articles have been collected as Sevilla, sin mapa (Paréntesis, 2010), La caja de pan duro (Signatura, 2000) and El sentimiento trágico de la Liga (Renacimiento, Professional Football Foundation Prize 1995).
    He has edited a Mexican anthology of Andalusian short stories, Macondo boca arriba (UNAM, 2006); co-edited with Jorge Volpi an annotated edition of Edgar Allan Poe, Cuentos Completos (Páginas de Espuma, 2008), and co-edited with Gustavo Guerrero a French anthology of Latin American short stories, Les bonnes nouvelles d l'Amérique latine (Galiimard, 2010). His stories have been included in various anthologies in Spain and Latin America, and his work has been translated into Russian, English, French, Italian, Romanian and Korean.
    During his years as a historian he was a University Lecturer in Peru, conducted research in the Archivo de Indias in Sevilla and in the Secret Vatican Archives, and was visiting lecturer in various universities in Europe and the Americas.  He is the author of Extremo Oriente y Perú en el siglo XVI (Fundación Mapfre, 1992) and the historiographical essay Nación Peruana: entelequia o utopía (Crese, 1998), co-author of El comercio ambulatorio en Lima (ILD, 1989) and editor of Jornadas contadas a Montilla (1996) and Francisco Solano, proceso diocesiano (2000), as well as various studies on the process of the Inquisition and saintliness in colonial Lima, which led to him obtaining the New York Conference on Latin American History Grant Award (1996).
    He has been a tenured Lecturer in History at the Catholic University of Peru and Lecturer in Political Science at the University of the Pacific in Lima.  He has been the Director of Cultural Affairs for the Fundación San Telmo de Sevilla (1991-1994) and was also Director of the Fundación Alberto Jiménez-Becerril against Terrorism (1998-2001). He has written columns for the newspapers Diario 16 (1989-1996), El País (1997-1998) and La Razón (1999-2000). Between 1996 and 2010 he has been Editor of the literary journal Renacimiento, and between 2003 and 2010 was also Director of the ABC Lecture Room in Seville. Actually is PhD candidate of Latin American History by Sevilla University and PhD candidate of Latin American Literature by Salamanca University.
    He has lived in Seville since 1989, where he writes a column for the newspaper ABC, and is Director of the Cristina Heeren Flamenco Foundation.