A Luso-Brazilian Dialogue on Literature With Afonso Cruz and Julián Fuks

Events

Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture / Tagus Press- Liberal Arts Building, Room 212 - Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 4:30 pm

- Flyer of the event (PDF format) -

The Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture / Tagus Press & The Department of Portuguese in collaboration with The Camões Center at UMass Boston, The Consulate-General of Brazil in Boston, and The Consulate of Portugal in New Bedford proudly present:

A Luso-Brazilian Dialogue on Literature with Afonso Cruz and Julián Fuks

Date: Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 4:30 pm
Place: Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture / Tagus Press Liberal Arts Building, Room 212. Please use parking lot 1 (map).

Julian Fuks was born in Sao Paulo and is the son of Argentinian parents. Determined to become a writer from an early age, he graduated in journalism from the Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP) in 2004. He also holds a Master's degree in Latin American literature (2009) and a PhD in literary theory (2016) from USP. He has worked as a reporter for the newspaper Folha de Sao Pauloand as a reviewer for the magazine Cult. His works ,include Fragmentos de Alberto, Ulysses, Carolina e eu (Fragments of Alberto, Ulysses, Carolina, and Me, 2004); Histórias de literatura e cegueira (Stories of Literature and Blindness, 2007), a finalist for the Telecom Award as well as the Jabuti Award; Procura do romance (Search for the Novel, 2011), shortlisted for the Sao Paulo Prize for Literature; and A Resistencia (The Resistance, 2015), winner of the Jabuti Prize for best novel in 2016 and the José Saramago Prize in 2017. In his latest novel, A Ocupação (The Occupation), written during the 2017-17 Rolex Arts Initiative mentoring year, Fuks assimilated the poetic quality, social awareness, and political engagement that characterize the works of his mentor, Mozambican writer Mia Couto.

Afonso Cruz was born in 1971, in Figueira da Foz, and studied at the Antonio Arroio Art School, the College of Visual Arts in Lisbon, and the Institute for Visual Arts in Madeira. He published his first novel, A Came de Deus: Aventuras de Conrado Fortes e Lola Benites (The Flesh of God: The Adventures of Conrado Fortes and Lola Benites), in 2008. In 2010, he published Os Livros que Devoraram o Meu Pai (The Books which Devoured My Father) and A Contradicio Humana (The Human Contradiction), both of which won literary prizes in Portugal. His book A Boneca de Kokoschka (The Kokoschka Doll) was the winner of the EU Prize for Literature in 2012. In the same year, Jesus Cristo Bebia Cerveja (Jesus Christ Drank Beer) was considered the Best Portuguese Novel of the Year by Time Out Lisbon magazine, and in 2014, Para Onde Vão os Guarda-Chuvas (Where Do Umbrellas End Up) won the literature prize awarded by the Portuguese Society for Authors. He contributes a monthly column, "Parallax," to the magazine Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias. He is also an illustrator, an animated film director, and member of the band The Soaked Lamb.