Laura Restrepo (born 1950 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a Colombian author who began writing what were mainly political columns in her mid-twenties.

When she and her family went to Madrid the school did not accept her because she failed the required admission tests for arithmetic, grammar, sewing, and embroidery.

[2] She moved back to Colombia age fifteen where she had to work hard to earn a high school degree as she had not taken the required subjects previously but in spite of this, she was able to obtain her diploma.

In her second year in college, at the age of 16, she wrote "that beyond the nuclear family and the land of wonders that is high culture, there lay a whole universe to be explored that was broad and remote, fierce and exciting."

She gave up her teaching job and got involved in Colombian politics before joining the Socialist Workers Party in Spain, then soon went to Argentina for four years where she was part of the underground resistance that opposed the military dictatorship.

She returned to Colombia after three years in the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and began writing for Semana, a magazine, in the national and international politics section.

Restrepo voiced her opinions loudly over the failing peace treaties and the conflict that was going and received death threats and was forced into a six-year exile in Mexico.

[3] Her first novel was Isle of Passion which uses her normal style of investigative journalism and fiction to create a sense of wonder while it is being read.

After Restrepo's experience as a commissioner of peace she left the field of journalism, received death threats and was forced into exile in Mexico for six years.

[2] Her book Historia de un Entusiasmo (Story of a Fascination) is written as a firsthand account from Restrepo and deals with aspects of the peace negotiations that the media had not shown.

Restrepo says, "I needed a formula that would allow me to slightly violate the verifiable facts so that my personal interpretation would not be offensive, and this explains the dual character of the chapters, some strictly investigative, others with license to lie a little."

She explains that these authors are ones that are concerned with the dignity of others, the ability to show empathy even though times are tough, and "the solidarity and ironbound links of clan.

[2] In 1997, Restrepo won the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize at the Guadalajara International Book Fair for her novel The Angel of Galilea.