Alexandra Lucas Coelho

Portuguese Guest

With her first novel, And the Night Spins (2012), a failed love story set in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Alexandra Lucas Coelho received the Portuguese Association of Writers’ prestigious literary prize. Her second novel, My Sunday Lover (2014), a short satire, was translated into French by Éditions du Seuil. In 2016 she published her third novel, Deus-dará, set in contemporary Rio de Janeiro and chronicling 500 years of colonial history. She has also published five non-fiction books: Close East (2007), Afghan Notebook (2009), Viva Mexico (2010), Tahrir (2011) and Go, Brazil (2013). Before she turned to books, Alexandra Lucas Coelho was a reporter, covering conflict zones from the USSR to the Middle East and Central Asia, for more than 20 years. She lived in Jerusalém and Rio de Janeiro as a correspondent for Público newspaper.