Nine Brazilian authors provide a foretaste of the literature programme in 2013

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1 Nine Brazilian authors provide a foretaste of the literature programme in 2013 This year, Brazil is already strengthening its presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair Brazil, the Frankfurt Book Fair s Guest of Honour 2013, is already boosting its presence at the Fair in 2012, and providing the public with a foretaste of the programme it is planning for next year. Nine authors who already enjoy an international reputation will be present at this year s Book Fair six more than were here last year: Marina Colasanti, João Paulo Cuenca, Andréa del Fuego, Milton Hatoum, Michel Laub, Roger Mello, Alberto Mussa, Luiz Ruffato and Cristovão Tezza. The authors for 2012 were selected by the National Library of Brazil (Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, FBN), supported by the National Foundation for Children and Youth Literature (Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil, FNLIJ). Next year around 80 authors will travel from Brazil to Frankfurt, who will represent the most diverse range of literary currents. The main criteria for the selection of this year s authors were their participation in the National Library s translation grant programme, and the success their publications have already achieved in other countries. The translation grant programme exemplifies the increased efforts on the part of the Brazilian government to position Brazil s literature more prominently abroad. The programme is coordinated by the International Book Centre (Centro Internacional do Livro, CIL), which is cooperating with German publishers and translators to draw up a list of interesting young Brazilian authors for readers of German. The authors most frequently translated under the programme include Alberto Mussa, Luiz Ruffato and Cristovão Tezza. Since the programme was launched, eight titles by Alberto Mussa have already been translated, making him the contemporary author with the largest number of supported works. Of Luiz Ruffato s books, five have so far received translation grants. The German translation of his novel Eles eram muitos cavalos is being published in time for this year s Book Fair (German title: Es waren viele Pferde, published by Verlag Assoziation A; English: They Were Many Horses, unpublished). Cristovão Tezza s books have received four grants.

2 Writer João Paulo Cuenca s book O único final feliz para uma história de amor é um acidente (German title: Das einzig glückliche Ende einer Liebesgeschichte ist ein Unfall; A 1 Verlag; English: The Only Happy Ending to a Love Story is an Accident, unpublished) was released in August The two young authors Andréa del Fuego and Michel Laub were chosen because they already have works scheduled for release in Germany in the near future. Translations of Andréa del Fuego s novel Os Malaquias (German title: Die Malaquias; English: The Malaquias, unpublished), a winner of the José Saramago Award, and Michel Laub s Diário da Queda (German title: Tagebuch eines Herbstes; English: Journal of an Autumn, unpublished), will both be published by Klett- Cotta Verlag in the second half of Marina Colasanti and Roger Mello were selected by the Children and Youth Literature Foundation as they are both multiple winners of the Foundation s Book of the Year prize and have also been shortlisted for important international prizes. Milton Hatoum, an author from the Amazon region, will represent his country on 14 October during the ceremonial hand-over of the Guest Scroll to Brazil from this year s Guest of Honour, New Zealand. The choice of Hatoum for this roll was largely due to the international renown and high esteem for his works, which have been translated into 14 different languages.

3 Brazilian authors in Frankfurt Marina Colasanti Born in 1937 in Eritrea, Marina Colasanti spent her early years in Italy. In 1948 her family moved to Brazil, where she studied visual arts and began a career as a journalist and writer. She has worked for many years with diverse magazines, including Jornal do Brasil, and with television stations and an advertising agency. She has become one of the best known essayists and campaigners for women s rights in Brazil. Her first book was published in Colasanti is not only a writer, she also works a painter and engraver, and has illustrated many of her own books. One of her short stories was included in a 1988 anthology of erotic prose by Brazilian women authors (German title: Tigerin und Leopard, 1988, Ammann Verlag; English title: Tigress and Leopard). Marina Colasanti lives in Rio de Janeiro. João Paulo Cuenca Jorge Bispo Born in 1978 in Rio de Janeiro, Cuenca studied economics and was the guitarist with a band. He published his first book, Corpo Presente, in 2003, and his second, the highly successful novel O Dia Mastroianni, in In the same year he was included in the Hay Festival s group of important Latin American writers, the 39 authors under 39. In 2012, the prominent literary magazine Granta selected him as one of the 20 best young Brazilian authors. Alongside his literary output, Cuenca also works as an arts journalist for various Brazilian media. During one of his long periods of residence abroad he spent some time in Tokyo, which inspired the book O único final feliz para uma estória de amor é um acidente. This was published in German in August 2012 by A1 Verlag, under the Title Das einzig glückliche Ende einer Liebesgeschichte ist ein Unfall. João Paulo Cuenca lives in Rio de Janeiro. Andréa del Fuego Born in 1975 in São Paulo, Andréa del Fuego is the author of many short stories and books for children and young adults. For her debut novel, Os Malaquias, she received the 2011 José Saramago Prize, which is awarded every two years to writers below the age of 35. This novel is due for release in German in the second half of 2013, translated by Marianne Gareis and published by Carl Hanser Verlag (German working title: Die Malaquias; English title: The Malaquias). Andréa del Fuego lives in São Paulo.

4 Cuti (pseudonym of Luiz Silva) Born close to São Paulo in 1951, Cuti studied Brazilian and French literature and is today one of the most important figures in Afro- Brazilian literature. In Germany, pieces by Cuti have appeared in several anthologies, such as the poetry volume Schwarze Poesie Poesia Negr (1988, Edition día). Cuti lives in São Paulo. Milton Hatoum The son of Lebanese immigrants, Milton Hatoum was born in 1952 in Manaus. After studying architecture in São Paulo he worked for the features desk of the magazine Isto É, then studied comparative literature and Spanish-American literature, also in São Paulo. From 1979 to 1983 he lived in France and Spain before returning to Manaus in 1984 to take up a post as lecturer in French literature. His first novel Relato de um certo Oriente (German title: Brief aus Manaus, 2002, Suhrkamp Verlag; English title: A Tale of a Certain Orient) was released in 1989, and his second (German title: Zwei Brüder, 2002, Suhrkamp Verlag; English title: Two Brothers) in With these two books he was twice the winner of the highly regarded Jabuti Prize. His third novel, Cinzas do Norte (German title: Asche vom Amazonas, 2008, Suhrkamp Verlag; English title: The Ashes of the Amazon) followed in Milton Hatoum has been living in São Paulo since Michel Laub Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1973, Michel Laub is a journalist and writer of Jewish descent. Diário da Queda is his fifth novel. Laub was selected by Granta for its Best of Young Brazilian Novelists edition and he has received many further accolades. Among other awards, he has been a finalist in the São Paulo Literature Prize and the Portugal Telecom Prize, and has been nominated for the Jabuti Prize several times. The German translation of Diário da Queda is due to be published by Klett-Cotta Verlag in October 2013, under the title Tagebuch eines Herbstes. Michel Laub lives in São Paulo. Renato Parada

5 Patrícia Melo Born in 1962 in São Paulo. An author and dramatist, Melo writes novels, radio plays and screenplays. The Times declared Melo to be one of the leading figures of Latin America for the new millennium. She has also been awarded the Prix Deux Océans and the Jabuti Prize. Many of her books have already been translated into German, including two crime novels, Wer lügt gewinnt (1999, Klett-Cotta Verlag) and Ich töte, Du stirbst (2002, Klett-Cotta Verlag). The crime novel O Matador (1997, Klett-Cotta Verlag) won the German Crime Fiction Prize in In April 2013, Klett-Cotta Verlag will publish another of her crime novels, Ladrão de Cadáveres, in a German translation with the title Leichendieb. Patrícia Melo lives variously in Rio de Janeiro, Switzerland and São Paulo. Roger Mello Born in 1965 in Brasília, Mello later moved to Rio de Janeiro where he studied industrial design and visual programming. Today he works as a freelance illustrator and writer, and is also involved in film and theatre. He is among the most creative and versatile authors of children s literature. Roger Mello has illustrated more than 100 books over the last 20 years, mostly for young readers. Some 20 of these were picture books for which he also wrote the texts. His works have won many awards. In 2010 he was the first Brazilian illustrator to be chosen as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and he achieved this accolade again in Roger Mello lives in Rio de Janeiro. Alberto Mussa Born in 1961 in Rio de Janeiro. At the University of Rio de Janeiro, Mussa studied literature and languages, including Yoruba, Arabic and the Brazilian indigenous language Tupi. In 1997, he published his first volume of short stories, Elegbara, containing ten stories related directly of indirectly to Brazil s colonial history. His first novel, O trono da rainha Jinga (German translation: Königin Jingas Thron; English: Queen Jinga s Throne), is also about the colonial past. His other books include Movimento pendular (German: Die Bewegung des Pendels; English: Movement of the Pendulum) and O senhor do lado esquerdo (German: Der Herr auf der rechten Seite; English: The Man on Right). His works have been published in ten countries and in seven languages. Alberto Mussa lives in Rio de Janeiro.

6 Luiz Ruffato Adriana Vichi Born in 1961, in Cataguases, Brazil, Ruffato grew up in a poor migrant family. He worked, among other jobs, as a salesman and a mechanic, and he studied journalism. In 1998, he published his first volume of short stories. He followed this three years later with the novel Eles eram muitos cavalos, which revolutionised Brazilian literature. It was received enthusiastically by critics and won a number of prizes, including the Brazilian National Library's Machado de Assis Award. A jury of literary critics from the newspaper Globo proclaimed the book, which has now been translated into several languages, to be one of the ten best Brazilian books of recent decades. The German translation, titled Es waren viele Pferde, is being published by Assoziation A in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair Between 2005 and 2011, Luiz Ruffato wrote a five-volume cycle of novels Inferno próvisorio. This is due for release in German by the same publisher, early in 2013 (working title: Provisorische Hölle). Luiz Ruffato lives in São Paulo. Cristovão Tezza Born in 1952 in Lages. Tezza wrote O filho eterno (German translation: Der ewige Sohn; English: The Eternal Son), which has won more awards then almost any other Brazilian novel. His most recent book is called O espírito da prosa - uma autobiografia literária (German translation: Der Geist der Erzählung Eine literarische Autobiographie; English: The Spirit of the Tale A literary autobiography). Among other languages, his works have so far been translated into French, English and Italian. Cristovão Tezza lives in Curitiba in southern Brazil.