Lina Meruane teaches Latin American cultures in New York University's Global/Liberal Studies Program, USA. She is a Chilean critic and a distinguished writer of fiction, author of the novels Póstuma, Cercada, Fruta podrida and Sangre en el ojo, which was awarded the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize (Mexico, 2012). She has also received the Anna Seghers Prize (Berlin, 2011) for her work in fiction and literary fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Viral Voyages was originally published in Spanish by Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE Chile, 2012).