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Paco Ignacio Taibo II (born 11 January 1949 in Gijón, Asturias), birth name Francisco Ignacio Taibo Mahojo, is a Spanish writer and novelist.

Taibo has lived in Mexico City since 1958 when his family fled from Spain to escape the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. Taibo II (or PIT, as he likes to be called) is a Mexican intellectual, historian, professor, journalist, social activist, union organizer, and world-renowned writer. Widely known for his policial novels, he is considered the founder of the neopolicial genre in Latin America and is the president of the International Association of Policial Writers. One of the most prolific writers in Mexico today, over 500 editions of his 51 books have been published in 29 countries and over a dozen languages, and include novels, narrative, historical essays, chronicles, and poetry.

Some of his novels have been mentioned among the "Books of the Year" by The New York Times, Le Monde, and the Los Angeles Times. He has received numerous awards including the Grijalbo, the Planeta/Joaquin Mortiz in 1992, the Dashiell Hammett three times for his policial novels, and the 813 for the best police novel published in France. His biography of Ernesto "Che" Guevara ("Ernesto Guevara, tambien conocido como el Che", 1996) has sold over half a million copies around the world and won the 1998 Bancarella Book of the Year award in Italy.

PIT's readership had developed into a cult following. Once when he gave a talk about Mexican Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico City, his presentation turned into a rally. His readers consider him their friend and when his presentations are over, people approach him to give him gifts such as cigarettes, apples, and sodas.

A social and politically conscious writer, his writings respond to and speak of the social pressures he experienced as a young man and allow him to tell what's behind every criminal story: corruption and repression of the political system in Mexico. A militant and survivor of the student movement of 1968 in Mexico, his book "68" (2004) inspired by these events and direct personal experiences tells the story of the movement including the Tlatelolco massacre of student protesters in Mexico City by government troops. As a result of the events that took place in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, thousands of people were arrested, hundreds were killed, and hundreds are still missing today. To date nobody has been held accountable for these crimes.

Some of his most popular works include the series of a Mexican independent detective called Héctor Belascoarán Shayne introduced for first time in the novel Días de combate. He wrote eight more novels with this character. Other novels include: Muertos incómodos (The Inconvenient Dead) (with Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos), Cuatro manos (Four Hands), Sombra de la sombra (Shadow of the Shadow), and Amorosos fantasmas.

PIT organizes the 'Semana Negra' (The Noir Week), a crime fiction festival held every year in Gijón, Spain.

He is the son of Paco Ignacio Taibo I (?, 6/19/1924-11/13/2008) and the brother of movie producer Carlos Taibo and poet Benito Taibo.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paco Ignacio Taibo II", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0