António Lobo Antunes (born September 1, 1942) is a Portuguese novelist. He is regarded as one of the most important contemporary authors.

António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon. At the age of 7 he decided to be a writer but when he was 16, his father put him in Medicine College. During this time he never stopped writing. By the end of the course he had to join the Army, to take place in the war in Angola. It was there, in a military hospital, that Lobo Antunes become conscious of both death and the others. He came back from Africa in 1973. He worked many months in Germany and Belgium and, in 1979, after his divorce (1976), he published his first novel - Memória de Elefante Elephant's Memory - where he told the story of his separation. Due to the sucess of his first novels António Lobo Antunes decided to give up Medicine and devote all his time to literature.

António Lobo Antunes has assumed himself as an essential author in contemporary narrative. The beauty of his prose, his detail and rigor, as well as the complex architecture of his novels make him the most intelligent and appealing writer of our days. His prose embraces such a complete universe that it has everything: the gladness, the humour, the enthusiasm, the poetry. However, the presence of death doen't let us classify his novels as cheerful ones.

António Lobo Antunes has been regarded as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature and his novels are translated into many languages.

Novels

• Memória de Elefante (1979) Elephant's Memory
• Os Cus de Judas (1979) South of Nowhere
• Conhecimento do Inferno (1980) Knowledge of the Hell
• The History of Portugal Tetralogy
  • Explicação dos Pássaros (1981) An Explanation of the Birds
  • Fado Alexandrino (1983) Fado Alexandrino
  • Auto dos Danados (1985) The Act of the Damned
  • As Naus (1988) The Return of the Caraveles
• The Benfica Trilogy
  • Tratado das Paixões da Alma (1990) Treaty of the Soul's Passions
  • A Ordem Natural das Coisas (1992) The Natural Order of Things
  • A Morte de Carlos Gardel (1994) The Death of Carlos Gardel
• Manual dos Inquisidores (1996) The Inquisitors' Manual
• O Esplendor de Portugal (1997)
• Exortação aos Crocodilos (1999)
• Não Entres Tão Depressa Nessa Noite Escura (2000) Don't Go So Fast Into This Dark Night
• Que Farei Quando Tudo Arde? (2001)
• Boa Tarde às Coisas Aqui em Baixo (2003)
• Eu Hei-de Amar uma Pedra (2004)

• Lobo Antunes also published two books of chronicles that include the small texts published in magazines. At the moment Lobo Antunes writes two choronicles every month in Visão, a Portuguese magazine.

Some Prizes

• Prize of Portuguese Writers' Association (1985 and 1999)
• France Culture Prize (1996 and 1997)
• Rosalía de Castro Prize (1999)
• European Literature Prize of Austria (2000)
• Ovidius Prize - Romania (2003)
• Latin Union International Prize (2003)
• Jerusalem Prize (2004)

External links

• Portuguese Writers