Pavel Hak was born in 1962 in Czechoslovakia. In 1985 he crossed the border between Yugoslavia and Italy, where he obtained political asylum. He went to France in 1986, and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. He has lived there ever since. He is the author of five novels, including Sniper, which was translated and published in the UK in 2004. His third novel – Trans – won the Prix Wepler in 2006.