Ferreira Gullar

Ferreira Gullar was a Brazilian poet and writer, one of the most important and influential authors of the 20th century in Brazil. He was born in São Luís, Maranhão, in 1930, and studied law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He began his literary career in 1949, publishing his first poetry book, Um Pouco Acima do Chão. He was one of the founders of the Neo-Concrete Movement, which broke away from the Concrete Movement and advocated for a more expressive and experimental approach to poetry and art. He wrote several poems that became landmarks of Brazilian literature, such as A Luta Corporal, Poema Sujo, Traduzir-se, and Não Há Vagas. He also wrote novels, short stories, plays, essays, and memoirs. He was a political activist and a critic of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. He was exiled in several countries, such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, and France. He returned to Brazil in 1977 and continued his literary and journalistic work. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, such as the Prêmio Jabuti, the Prêmio da Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte, the Prêmio Machado de Assis, and the Prêmio Camões, the most prestigious literary award in the Portuguese language. He was also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2014. He died in 2016, at the age of 86, after suffering a respiratory infection.