Paulo Lins

Paulo Lins was born on June 11, 1958, in Rio de Janeiro. When he turned seven years’ old, he moved to the Cidada de deus favela (City of Gods). Favelas are known for being very dangerous, low class, and overly pack. Lins was lucky to escape the violence of the favelas and become a great writer. Lin’s father was a house painter and his mother a domestic helper. Lins and his family lived above the garbage collectors, delivery boys and street vendors who made less money than his family He took a courses in Grupo Cooperativa de Poetas and Later on he took an additional course at the University del Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

He was interested in poetry and music, especially samba. He was part of the Poets Cooperative group. Later on he entered a course of Letters in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he began to write poetry. Lins worked as an assistant to the anthropologist Alba Zaluar, whose doctorate is based on City of Gods. With the encouragement of the researcher, in 1986 she began a long documentary work for the elaboration of the novel Cidade de Deus. Lins published his first book of poems in the year 1986 called, On the Sun. In 1995 he received a Bolsa Vitae de Literatura award. In the year 1997, Lins published the book City of God, where he illustrates the daily life of his community, the lack of growth and the struggle for power involving violence and drug trafficking. In 2002, the book was created into a movie by the director Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, with script by Bráulio Montovani. The movie received many awards, and was featured at the London Film Festival. Lins received four Academy Award nominations in the year 2004. His book was a national and international success.

After the movie release of City of Gods, Lins wrote several scripts for cinema and television, he even acted as a director. He made the script for some episodes of the series Cidade dos Homens (City of Men), from Rede Globo de Televisão. Lins also wrote the script for the film Quase Dois Irmãos (Almost Brothers) in 2004 by Lúcia Murat, who received the "Best Screenplay Award" of the Paulista Association of Art Critics in 2005.

In 2012, he released his second novel Desde que o Samba é Samba. He begand correcting samba-plot letters for samba artists then ended up making the sambas themselves. The author who began correcting samba-plot letters for the samba artists, and sought to rescue Brazilian cultural formation moments through that and Umbanda. The novel takes place in the neighborhood of Estacio de Sá, place which is the birth of the carnival samba

His most recent book is Once Upon a Time … Me!; published in 2014. The book was done with the collaboration of illustrator Maurício Carneiro, circus actress and singer Beo da Silva and graphic designer Eduardo Lima. It brings together poetry and illustration in a dramatic plot. Lins currently lives in Brazil.

Author profile written by Jessica Ramos.

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2 Books by Paulo Lins