Born in Barcelona, Mateo is a well known Kalderash writer living in France, where his ancestors - Roma tinkers from Russia - settled at the end of the 19th century. He writes in French as well as his native Kalderash dialect, and his first work, Ursitory, has been translated into 14 languages. Some of his other works include "La Septieme Fille", "Condamnes a Survivre", "Savina", "Ce Monde Qui nest pas le mien". In 1994 he published a translation of the New Testament in the Kalderash dialect.