He has an undergraduate degree in law and a graduate degree in Modern and Contemporary Portuguese Literature. He has published seven books of poety and three novels; edited anthologies of the poets Manoel de Barros, José Régio, and Adília Lopes, among others; and translated works from Italian and Spanish. He also dabbles in art: his first show, “the face of gregor samsa”, took place in Porto in 2006.
valter hugo mãe’s first literary efforts were in poetry. A collection of his complete poetic work will appear in 2008 with the title folclore íntimo [intimate folklore]. His first work of fiction, nosso reino [our kingdom],came out in 2004. The Diário de Notícias, a very important daily newspaper, called it the best Portuguese novel published that year. valter hugo mãe was awarded the José Saramago Prize in 2007.
o apocalipse dos trabalhadores [the workers’ apocalypse], the novel being presented here, is a portrait of our time centered on a group of ordinary people living ordinary lives in search of their personal paradise, afflicted by the hope of someday achieving happiness, or lacking hope altogether.
It is the story of Maria da Graça, a cleaning woman in a provincial city, whose ambition is to die for love.