Daniel Samper Pizano

Daniel Samper Pizano
Born 8 June 1945 (1945-06-08) (age 66)
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Nationality Colombian
Alma mater Pontifical Xavierian University
University of Kansas
Genres Novel, Creative nonfiction
Literary movement Postmodern
Spouse(s) Cecilia Ospina Cuellar
Pilar Tafur (1974-present)
Children Juanita Samper Ospina
María Angélica Samper Ospina
Daniel Samper Ospina
Relative(s) Ernesto Samper Pizano (brother)

Daniel Samper Pizano (born 8 June 1945) is a Colombian lawyer, journalist, and prolific writer.

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Career

Samper attended the Gimnasio Moderno, where he began writing in the students newspaper El Aguilucho. At the age of 19 he worked for the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo as a reporter. After graduating from high school, Samper studied law in the Pontifical Xavierian University and later attended graduate school for journalism at Kansas University, United States. He was also awarded the Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University. Since then he has been an editor, columnist and author of some 25 books, TV and movie screenwriter and winner of numerous recognitions and awards in Colombia and abroad; Among these, the Maria Moors Cabot prize given by Columbia University, and has won three times the Colombian "Simón Bolívar Prize for Journalism", the "Premio Rey" of Spain.

His writings are notable for having a wide and soft sense of humor mixed with some social criticism. He writes a column for El Tiempo called "Cambalache" (colloquialism meaning "Exchange") and the magazine Carrusel with a humor section called "Postre de notas", as well as some articles written for Colombian magazines such as El Malpensante, Revista Semana and Gatopardo. In Colombia, Samper is also considered the father of Colombian investigative journalism after his work as a reporter for El Tiempo newspaper.

Samper resides in Madrid since 1986 and was an editor of the Spanish magazine Cambio 16. He is also member of the Academia Colombiana de la Lengua. As a TV screenwriter he wrote scripts for the Colombian TV series Dejémonos de vainas during the 1980s and 1990s.

Personal life

Daniel was born in Bogotá on 8 June 1945 to Andrés Samper Gnecco and Helena Pizano Pardo, the eldest of five children, his other siblings were, Ernesto, José Gabriel, Juan Francisco, and María Fernanda. He married Cecilia Ospina Cuellar, with whom he had three children, Juanita, María Angélica, and Daniel. He later divorced and married Pilar Tafur in 1974.

Selected works

External links