Bartolomeu Campos De Queirós: Brazil ★ Author

“When I look at this paper faded by time, I decide to be born once again. Then I imagine stories and write.”

Bartolomeu Campos De Queirós

The Brazilian author, Bartolomeu Campos De Queirós, writes about universal human themes that are geared towards no specific age group, but are applicable and accessible to all. These themes include such important topics as death, childhood, and the passing of time, to which he brings a fresh approach. His treatment of these themes allows his readers to see the poetic nature of human experiences.

De Queirós plays an important part in contemporary Brazilian children’s literature. His writing is lyrical and precise, his poetic prose uses carefully chosen words, and he toys with the meanings and sounds of words in his poetry for small children. He is one of the first Brazilian authors to write this way for children. To date, he has published over 60 works of both prose and poetry for young people. His work has been the topic of a number of works of critical scholarship—including five books—and he has won many awards both in Brazil and abroad. Many of his books are included in government reading programs to promote literacy, including the Iberoamerican SM Award for Children’s and Young People’s Literature. His books are not the only way through which Bartolomeu promotes national literacy for the children of his country, as he has been a member of the Movement for a Literary Brazil since 2009, and has been active in conducting conferences and seminars on education, reading, and literature. Overall, he works to spread the pleasures of reading and gaining knowledge throughout his country.

Born in the Minas Gerais region, in a small town called Papagaio in 1944, Bartolomeu Campos De Queirós had thought he was going to be a truck driver like his father, until one day he put pen to paper and began to write down his thoughts. He eventually graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He specialized in Art Education at the Institut Pedagogique National de Paris, France, after receiving a study grant from the UN in 1967. It was during his time there that he wrote his first book; though it was not published until 1974, when it won Campos De Queirós his first prize from the BH Municipal Foundation for Culture.