Born 1944 in Rio de Janeiro, Chico Buarque is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet. Although he first made his name as a musician, in 1968 Buarque was imprisoned by the Brazilian dictatorship for writing and composing the existential play Roda Viva. During the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with other artists in protest against the dictatorship. He is the author of numerous novels; in 2010 Spilt Milk won both of Brazil's leading literary prizes, the Premio Jabuti and the Premio Portugal Telecom. He lives in Rio de Janeiro.
Praise for Chico Buarque:
`Chico Buarque is at the forefront of a wave of writing that should make you rethink everything you thought you knew about South American literature' Jonathan Franzen
'One of the outstanding Brazilian novelists of our time' Financial Times
`Try to imagine that Bob Dylan and Ian McEwan were the same person. That is Buarque' Sunday Times
'Chico Buarque has crossed a chasm with his writing, and arrived at the other side. To the side where one finds work executed with mastery' Jose Saramago