It was supposed to be for good. And it was.
Thank You
To the University of New Mexico, especially Professor David Richard Jones, and to the University of Texas in Austin, especially Professor Sonia Roncador. For the home away from home and help with my work, I thank Leila Lehnen, Jeremy Lehnen, Malcolm McNee and Erô Silva. I would also like to thank Taís Morais, Cristina Brayner and Giulia Gurevitz. And my agents Nicole Witt and Jonah Straus.
A Note on the Translator
ALISON ENTREKIN’s translations include City of God by Paulo Lins, The Eternal Son by Cristovão Tezza, Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector and Budapest by Chico Buarque. She has translated short fiction for numerous anthologies and literary magazines, including short stories by Tatiana Salem Levy and Carola Saavedra for Granta 121: Best of Young Brazilian Novelists. She is a three-time finalist in the New South Wales Premier’s Translation Prize & PEN Medallion.
A Note on the Author
Brazilian author ADRIANA LISBOA was born in Rio de Janeiro and currently resides in the United States. She has published eleven books, among which six novels, a collection of short stories and prose poetry, and books for children. Her work has been translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Romanian and Serbian, and will shortly appear also in Arabic.
Among her honors are the José Saramago Prize for her novel Symphony in White, a Japan Foundation Fellowship for her novel Hut of Fallen Persimmons, a fellowship from the Brazilian National Library, and the Newcomer of the Year Award from the Brazilian section of IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) for her book of poetry for children, Língua de trapos (A Tongue Made of Scraps). In 2007, Hay Festival/Bogota World Book Capital selected her as one of the thirty-nine highest profile Latin American writers under the age of thirty-nine.
With degrees in Music and Literature, Adriana Lisboa performed as a Brazilian Jazz singer while living in France, and subsequently worked as a music teacher in Rio. She also translated into Portuguese such authors as Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Maurice Blanchot.