The 44-year-old Brazilian author Nelson de Oliveira recently took home his second Casa de las Americas prize, this time for his novel Poeira: demônios e maldições.
Poeira: demônios e maldições takes place in a nameless city in the future where books are forbidden. After some books suddenly and mysteriously appear -– first in a city library and then around the world -– characters are kidnapped, only to be taken to a hellish underground where demonic bookmakers enslave them to run a huge press located in the center of the earth.
The novel is published by Língua Geral, a Brazilian house founded by the Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa that specializes in Portuguese-language authors. It is just one of the many publishing houses that de Oliveira has worked with, which also include Companhia das Letras and Record in Brazil.
In all, he’s written 20 books, including novels, short stories and books for children. So far, two of his books have been published abroad: A maldição do macho in Portugal by Temas & Debates, and O filho do Crucificado in Mexico by Obranegra. He has also edited a pair of anthologies: 90-00: cuentos brasileños contemporâneos, published in Peru by Ediciones Coupé in 2009, and 15 cuentos brasileros, published by Comunicarte from Argentina.
Publishers interested in learning more about de Oliveira and his work should send him an e-mail.
