Joaquim Arena was born in 1964 in São Vicente, Cape Verde. He moved to Lisbon with his family as a young child, going on to study law, before moving back to Cape Verde in 1998, where he worked as a journalist and writer. He now divides his time between Lisbon and São Vicente. He has published three novels, A Beacon in the Desert, The Truth about Chindo Luz, and Where the Turtles Fly. Under Our Skin (Debaixo da Nossa Pele), which has been widely covered in the Portuguese and Cape Verdean press, is his first full-length work of non-fiction, and his first book to be translated into English.