Milton Hatoum

Milton Hatoum (born August 19, 1952) is a Brazilian writer, translator and professor. Hatoum is one of Brazil's most eminent contemporary writers.

Born in Manaus of Lebanese descent, Hatoum taught literature at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) and at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written four novels: Relato de um Certo Oriente (Tale of a Certain Orient), Dois Irmãos (The Brothers), Cinzas do Norte (Ashes of the Amazon). The latter was the winner of a Portugal Telecom Prize for Literature and the three others awarded a Prêmio Jabuti for best novel) The final novel is Órfãos do Eldorado (Orphans of Eldorado). 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 and Cinzas do Norte, Milton Hatoum made a subtle criticism of the Brazilian 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 to Brasília and finished secondary school in the Brazilian capital.

After that, Hatoum moved to São Paulo. Three years later, he studied Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (USP). In 1980 he traveled to Spain on a scholarship from Instituto Iberoamericano de Cooperación. He lived in Madrid and Barcelona. After that, he took postgraduate courses at the University of Paris III.

After concluding his studies, Hatoun returned to Manaus, where he taught French language and literature at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas. Relato de um Certo Oriente was published when he was 37.

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