Mexican novelist who rose to popularity in the 1970s with books about the youth subculture of Mexico City. His novels examine the connection between daily life and the popular culture of radio, television, and film.

Zapata studied French literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In his best-known work, Las aventuras, desaventuras y sueños de Adonis García, el vampiro de la colonia Roma (1979; Adonis García: A Picaresque Novel), he chronicled the lives of urban homosexuals. His other works include Hasta en las mejores familias (1975; “Even in the Best Families”), De pétalos perennes (1981; “Of Perennial Petals”), De amor es mi negra pena (1983; “Of Love That Is My Hell”), En jirones (1985; “In Pieces”), Ese amor que hasta ayer nos quemaba (1989; “That Love That Until Yesterday in Us Burned”), La hermana secreta de Angélica María (1989; “The Secret Sister of Angélica María”), De cuerpo entero (1990; “At Full-Length”), and Por qué mejor no nos vamos? (1992; “Why Don't We Leave?”).