Antonio Skármeta (born Esteban Antonio Skármeta Vranicic) is a Chilean writer of Croatian descent, born November 7, 1940 in Antofagasta, Chile.
His 1985 novel and film[1] Ardiente Paciencia inspired the 1994 Academy Award-winning movie, Il Postino (The Postman). Subsequent editions of the book bore the title El cartero de Neruda (Neruda's Postman). His fiction has since received dozens of awards and has been translated into nearly thirty languages worldwide.
Skármeta studied philosophy and literature both in Chile and at Columbia University in New York. From 1967 to 1973, the year he left Chile (first to Buenos Aires and later to West Berlin), he taught literature at the University of Chile.
In 1989, after the collapse of Pinochet's military dictatorship, the writer returned to Chile in order "to create political space for freedom". He hosted a television program on literature and the arts, which regularly attracted over a million viewers.
From 2000 to 2003 he served as the Chilean ambassador in Germany.
Frequently teaches classes for the Colorado College both in Santiago, and Colorado Springs.
He was born in Chile to Croatian immigrants from the region of Dalmatia.