arlos Quiroz is a Canadian citizen with thirty five years residence in Montreal.  He was born in 1941, the eldest of six children, in the small Andean city of Cajamarca, in Northern Peru.

He sought escape from the stifling miasma of small town existence trying to read foreign language novels and movie-going. Still an adolescent when his father succumbed to tuberculosis, he made his way to Lima, to study journalism and become at the age of 17 a reporter for the popular daily El Expreso.  Eventually, he also became a film and literary reviewer for a number of newspapers in the capital.

Always an idealist, Quiroz followed his star.  The escapism of his childhood into a universe of books and films led him to harbour a half-articulated ambition that some day he himself might develop the qualities of an effective communicator, to perhaps make significant statements as a writer or film-maker.

The raw materials for creative treatment were to hand in the circumstances of his rough family life in Cajamarca, the combative squalor of adult street life in the metropolis, and the day-by-day slide towards catastrophe, to blame all, apparent in national affairs. He embarked on the preparation of an ambitious, large scale social novel, developing in parallel the experiences of his cast of characters and an analysis of the factors impelling the sub-continent into chaos and anarchy.

For all this he needed a more tranquil milieu, time to arrange and refine his observations and impressions, the removal from his home land into an ambiance conductive to a more objective formulation of attitudes and perspectives.  For himself he sought an opportunity to polish and hone his writing skills and to acquire some familiarity with film production techniques.  For his family he was concerned to guide it to a better quality of life.

In 1969 he arrived in Montreal as a landed immigrant, and used his innate talent for languages to qualify as a translator and interpreter for several courts of justice in Quebec, especially those requiring polyglot services and cross clarification in Spanish, English, French, Italian and Portuguese.  In 1973 he was sufficiently well established to begin studies in film production at Sir George Williams University, in the city. 

In 1974 he married and with his French Canadian wife set off on a journey by road from Montreal to Buenos Aires, sampling and recording the tonalities of the social spectrum of great America.

In 1975, after their tour of 17 countries, he settled down in Montreal to develop a career as writer, filmmaker, television producer and consultant in ethnic affairs, while continuing academic studies in screen-writing at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

By 1990 he had completed a full draft of his major opus, Los Enanos Verdes (Shrunk and greenish men), which he submitted for consideration to various publishing concerns in the Spanish speaking world.  The work was highly praised by Senora Carmen Balcells, a widely respected literary agent based in Barcelona, Spain, who describes its sweep and imagery as a grand fresco and compares it to the classic novel of Gustave Flaubert by referring to it as a ‘’Peruvian Education Sentimental’’.

At the time of its first circulation, however, some readers and critics considered its comments and predictions exaggerated and over pessimistic as a reflection of the contemporary scene.  Then again, as events have tragically passed into history, the climate of opinion has changed dramatically, and Los Enanos Verdes went to win a first nomination in a contest at the University of Miami, and its publication, sponsored by the Canadian Government.

Since 1981 Carlos Quiroz has been a regular script-writer for CBC Radio International, and sixteen of his stories have been recorded in albums for this entity for world distribution  He has also been commissioned by the Federal Government to design and produce scenarios demonstrating the multiethnic cultural mosaic of its country, to encourage immigration.  In consequence, he has undertaken roving assignments in video and film production at the invitation of governments in Eastern Europe and Latin America.