Paula Farias is a doctor, humanitarian worker, and storyteller who weaves her experiences into short stories, books, songs, and poems. After spending several years sailing with Greenpeace, she began working for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) during the Balkan war, which later led her to coordinate emergency responses to natural disasters, epidemics, and armed conflicts, including the Kosovo war—an experience that resonates in her first novel, Dejarse llover (2005). The book was later adapted into the film A Perfect Day by Fernando León de Aranoa, which won the Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 2004, she published the short story collection Déjate contar un cuento, and in 2021, Fantasmas azules, set against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan. After serving as president of Médecins Sans Frontières, she launched the organization’s rescue operations in the Mediterranean to respond to a crisis that continues to this day—a reality that underlies the pages of Piel de deriva.