Fernando Sabino

Fernando Sabino was a Brazilian writer, journalist and editor. He was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, in 1923, and moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1944, where he started his literary career. He published his first book, Os Grilos não Cantam Mais, in 1941, when he was just 18 years old. He wrote novels, short stories, essays, and journalism, exploring themes of identity, language, time, and solitude. He was part of a group of friends that included Hélio Pellegrino, Paulo Mendes Campos, Otto Lara Resende, and Rubem Braga. He also collaborated with Vinicius de Moraes, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Clarice Lispector, and Manuel Bandeira. He worked as an editor and director of the publishing house Editora Globo, where he promoted Brazilian literature and culture. He also taught Brazilian literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and was the director of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. He received several awards, such as the Prêmio Jabuti for his novel O Grande Mentecapto, and the Prêmio Machado de Assis from the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He was also decorated with the Ordem do Rio Branco, in the grade of Grã-Cruz, by the Brazilian government. He died of heart failure in 2004, one day before his 81st birthday. He is widely regarded as a master of the Portuguese language and a pioneer of modernist literature in Brazil.