Brazilian author Adriana Lisboa was born in Rio de Janeiro. She lived in France, has spent time in Japan, and presently resides in the United States. She officially began her career in 1999, with the publication of her novel The Threads of Memory, which was followed by three other novels: Symphony in White (2001), a book that led critics to consider her one of the most promising authors of the new generation in Brazil, Colombine’s Kiss (2003), and Rakushisha (2007). In 2004, she published a collection of short stories and poetry in prose, Calligraphies, with original drawings by Gianguido Bonfanti. In 2007, she published the novella The Heart Sometimes Stops Beating, which was adapted into a film by director Maria Camargo. Her work also includes three books for children: A Tongue Made of Scraps (2005), The Siren and the Butterfly Hunter (2009), both illustrated by Rui de Oliveira, and Japanese Popular Tales (2007), illustrated by Janaína Tokitaka. Her books have also appeared in Portugal, France, the United States, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, and Sweden. She has contributed to several short stories anthologies both in Brazil and abroad. Adriana Lisboa won the prestigious José Saramago Award for Symphony in White, the Moinho Santista Award for her body of work, and, from the National Foundation of Books for Children and Youths (Brazilian section of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People), the Outstanding Newcomer of the Year Award for A Tongue Made of Scraps. In 2007, the Bogotá 39 / Hay Festival (Bogotá World Book Capital City) selected her as one of the thirty-nine most important Latin American writers under the age of thirty-nine. She also won third place at the Prix des Lectrices de ELLE, in France, for the French edition of Symphony in White (entitled Des roses rouge vif). Adriana Lisboa has been awarded literary and translation grants from Brazil’s National Library, France’s Centre National du Livre, and the Japan Foundation. She was a visiting researcher at Nichibunken (Kyoto), the University of Texas in Austin, and the University of New Mexico. With a BA in Music from Uni-Rio (Rio de Janeiro Federal State University), she performed as a Brazilian jazz singer in France, and worked as a music teacher in Rio. Subsequently, she earned a MA in Brazilian Literature and a PhD in Comparative Literature from UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University). She has translated into Portuguese such authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, Cormac McCarthy, Marilynne Robinson, and Émile Faguet. Adriana Lisboa is represented by Mertin Literary Agency, which was founded by Ray-Güde Mertin and is presently directed by Nicole Witt. She is also a member of the PEN American Center and BRASA (Brazilian Studies Association).