Real Fiction Radio Broadcast: August 12, 2020 12 p.m. ET on WERA-FM 96.7 Arlington, VA
TWENTY AFTER MIDNIGHT (Penguin Press)
Daniel Galera is a Brazilian writer, translator, and editor. He was born in Sao Paolo, but spent most of his life in Porto Alegre, only returning to Sao Paulo in 2005. He has published four novels in Brazil to great acclaim, including Blood-Drenched Beard, was awarded the 2013 Sao Paolo Literature Prize. In addition to writing, he has also translated the work of Zadie Smith, David Mitchell, Irving Welsh and Jonathan Safran Foer into Portuguese. TWENTY AFTER MIDNIGHT was published in Brazil in 2016 - inspired by events in Porto Alegre as it experienced a severe heatwave, transportation strike and political violence. The US release (in translation) comes at a time when the United States and Brazil top the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths. While this novel was not predictive of current events, it is a timely story, providing readers insight into a dark moment in time and the sustained sense of anxiety.
Twitter: @alargedenial