About the Author

Michael Shapiro’s (Madison, Wisconsin 1957) love of old American cars took him, a toolbox, assorted spare parts, and a beige ’62 Ford Falcon on a solo trip from San Francisco down the Panamericana Highway to Managua, Nicaragua in the mid-1980s. Then after founding Libros Sin Fronteras, a US-based, Spanish language book and music distributor Michael visited Cuba some 12 times between 1998 and 2001 -licensed by the US Treasury Department- to select and acquire Cuban books and music for US public and university library collections. Bachelor’s from UC Berkeley. MAs in Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico; and Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a lifetime member of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. Michael’s work in libraries brought him to the Cooperative OCLC-WebJunction; and IEEE, the World's Largest Technical Professional Organization for the Advancement of Technology. Michael makes his home in Traslasierra, Cordoba, Argentina.