João Almino’s novel Enigmas of Spring was shortlisted recently for the São Paulo Award, the largest literary award in Brazil. The Culture Trip has written up each of the finalists here.
Enigmas of Spring by João Almino, published by Dalkey Archive in February 2016, follows the life of a young disaffected man from Brasília who slowly becomes obsessed with medieval Catholicism and Islam, eventually traveling to Madrid and going through mosques, palaces, and a number of romances, before his interests threaten to boil over into violent and even deadly action. According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, Enigmas of Spring is “first solid work, in Brazilian literature, to bring to the pages of fiction (and for subjective experience) the political movements of the latest years.”
João Almino is the author of six novels in total, the first five of which form the well-known Brasília Quintet. The Brazilian writer Moacyr Scliar has described Almino as “among our country’s greatest authors.” In the United States, Almino’s novels have been praised by the likes of Lorrie Moore and Marjorie Perloff.
Four of Almino’s novels are available in English translation: Book of Emotions, Free City, and Enigmas of Spring are all available from Dalkey Archive Press, while The Five Seasons of Love is available from Host Publications.
Once again—congratulations to Almino and the other finalists!
