Milton Hatoum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1952-08-19)August 19, 1952 (age 73) Manaus, Brazil |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | Two Brothers,Orphans of Eldorado andTale of a Certain Orient. |
Milton Assi Hatoum (Brazilian Portuguese:[ˈmiwtõhaˈtũ]; born August 19, 1952) is aBrazilian writer, translator and professor. Hatoum is one of Brazil's most eminent contemporary writers.[1] Among other honors, Hatoum was awarded Brazil's most prestigious literary award, theJabuti Prize, three times for best novel.[2] In 2017, he received the title ofOfficier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.[3]
Born inManaus ofLebanese descent, he studied comparative literature inParis, and has served as professor of literature in universities such as theFederal University of Amazonas (UFAM) and at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[4]
His first novel,Relato de um Certo Oriente ("Tale of a Certain Orient"), won the Jabuti Prize in 1989. His second novel,Dois Irmãos ("Two Brothers"), won another Jabuti in 2000 and was translated into twelve languages and adapted for television, theater and comics. His third novelCinzas do Norte ("Ashes of the Amazon") won the Jabuti in 2005, as well as thePortugal Telecom Prize for Literature, Bravo! and APCA awards. In 2008, his novelÓrfãos do Eldorado, was adapted for the cinema.[5]
Over 200,000 copies of his books have been sold in Brazil, and they have been translated in several languages including Italian, English, French, Spanish, Danish, Czech, and Arabic.
Hatoum writes about destructured families in his works, with a political tendency. In two of his books,Dois Irmãos andCinzas do Norte, Milton Hatoum made a subtle criticism of theBrazilian military regime of 1964–1985.
Hatoum's father was an immigrant from Lebanon who met a Brazilian of Lebanese origin. During his childhood, Milton lived with the culture, religion and language of Arabs and African Jews. At age 15 he moved toBrasília and finished secondary school in the Brazilian capital.[6]
After that, Hatoum moved toSão Paulo. Three years later, he studied Architecture and Urbanism at theUniversity of São Paulo (USP). In 1980 he traveled to Spain on a scholarship fromInstituto Iberoamericano de Cooperación. He lived in Madrid and Barcelona. After that, he took postgraduate courses at theUniversity of Paris III.
After concluding his studies, Hatoum returned toManaus, where he taught French language and literature at theUniversidade Federal do Amazonas.Relato de um Certo Oriente was published when he was 37.
He became a Doctor inLiterary Theory at USP in 1998. Feeling unsatisfied with the politics in Manaus, he decided to live in São Paulo. Eleven years after publishing his first novel, Milton wroteDois Irmãos. Between the publishing of the first and second books, he published several short stories in newspapers and magazines in Brazil and abroad.
On 14 August 2025, he was elected to occupy the Chair number 6 at theBrazilian Academy of Letters, in succession toCícero Sandroni.[7]
