An Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor, is the author of nine novels and five books of short stories, which together have made him a leading literary figure in the Spanish-speaking world. Moya was born in Honduras in 1957, but his family moved to El Salvador when he was only a few years old. During the civil war there (1979-1992), Moya twice fled the country, the first time for Canada, and the second time for Mexico City. His first novel, La diáspora (1988) won the Premio Nacional de la Novela. His third novel, El asco, Thomas Bernhard en El Salvador (1997), forced him into exile. His novels have been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Hebrew, Serbian, and English. New Directions published Senselessness in 2008 and She-Devil in the Mirror in 2009; Biblioasis published Dance with Snakes in 2009. Through City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, he has settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh.