Perfil

Before turning to literature, Antônio Torres worked in journalism, first in Bahia, where he was born (Sátiro Dias, 1940), then in São Paulo, where he moved into advertising.

He lived in Portugal for three years, from 1965 to 1968, which he considers fundamental to his literary education, as here he had the privilege of living with the poet Alexandre O’Neill, the fiction writer José Cardoso Pires, and the best in cinema and theater.

He made his literary debut in 1972 with Um cão uivando para a Lua, which had a huge impact on critics and the public. Today, he is the author of an extensive and award-winning body of work, with several editions in Brazil and translations in many countries, from Argentina to Vietnam.

His awards include the Pen Clube do Brasil prize for Balada da infância perdida, the Hors Concours Novel Prize from the Brazilian Writers’ Union for O cachorro e o lobo, the Machado de Assis Prize from the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the Grande Prémio Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, both for his work as a whole.

In 1998 he received the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres commendation from the French government for his books published in France up to that point: Essa Terra and Um táxi para Vienna d’Austria.

Seven of his novels have been published in Portugal: Meu Querido Canibal (Figueirinhas, 2000), O nobre sequestrador (Saída de Emergência, 2003), and, by Teodolito, part of the Afrontamento group, Essa Terra (2016), O cachorro e o lobo (2017), Pelo fundo da agulha (2018), Querida Cidade (2023), Os homens dos pés redondos (2024), as well as a short story in the anthology O prazer da leitura (Fnac/Teodolito, 2016).

A Lusophone Corresponding Member of the Class of Letters of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Antônio Torres is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, to which he was elected in 2013.