Gonçalo M. Tavares is the author of a substantial body of work that has been translated into more than sixty languages. His writing departs from traditional Portuguese lyrical forms, and his approach to literary genres has been noted for its originality.
In 2021, Le Quartier (The Neighbourhood) won the Prix Laure-Bataillon, awarded to the best translated book in France, following Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, who received the award in 2019, and Catalan writer Miquel de Palol. That same year, O Osso do Meio was recognised by Oceanos, one of the major Portuguese-language literary prizes. Twenty-two of Tavares’s works have received recognition in different countries. He has been a finalist for the Oceanos Prize six times, winning it three times, and has twice been shortlisted for both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina. His awards also include the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in 2010.
José Saramago predicted that Tavares would win the Nobel Prize, while Vasco Graça Moura wrote that A Journey to India would still be discussed in a hundred years. The New Yorker compared his work to that of Kafka and Beckett, noting that "logic can effectively serve madness as well as reason."
Gonçalo M. Tavares
Writer
