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Louis de Bernières (b. London, UK in 1954) is an author of novels. He has written many books, the most famous being his fourth, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, in which the eponymous hero is an Italian soldier who is part of the occupying force on a Greek island during the Second World War.
De Bernières grew up in London and joined the army when he was 18, but left after four months service. Before he began to write full time he held a wide variety of jobs, including being a mechanic, a motorcycle messenger, an English teacher in Colombia and a gaucho in Argentina.
It was his experiences in Colombia (as well as the influence of writer Gabriel García Márquez, describing himself as a 'Márquez parasite') that, he says, profoundly influenced his first three novels, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990), Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord (1991) and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (1992).
In 1993, de Bernières was selected as one of the 20 Best of Young British Novelists, part of a promotion in Granta magazine. His fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into over 11 languages and is an international bestseller.
His book, Red Dog (2002), was inspired by a statue of a dog he visited during a visit to Australia.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin was turned into a film, entitled "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" in 2001. De Bernières' response to the manner in which it was adapted was cryptic; he commented "It would be impossible for a parent to be happy about its baby's ears being put on backwards."
Since the release of the book and the movie, Cephalonia, the island on which Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set, has become a major tourist destination, and, as a result, the tourist industry on the island has begun to capitalise on the book's name. Of this, de Bernières said "I was very displeased to see that a bar in Agia Efimia has abandoned its perfectly good Greek name and renamed itself Captain Corelli's, and I dread the idea that sooner or later there might be Captain Corelli Tours, or Pelagia Apartments."
His most recent novel, Birds Without Wings (2004), is set in Turkey, and tells the story of how a small community is affected by the First World War. The book also covers the history of Kemal Atatürk.