LONGLISTED FOR THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FIRST BOOK AWARD

The Sun on My Head is a collection of thirteen stories set in Rio's largest favela, gravitating around the lives of young boys and men who, in spite of having to deal with the anguish and difficulties inherent to their age, also struggle with the violence involved in growing up on the less favoured side of the 'Broken City'.

They smoke weed, sell weed, and notice the smell of weed lingering on the clothes of passersby in the streets. A boy steals his security-guard father's gun to show it to his friends, another runs into trouble disposing of a body, and another relapses into an old graffiti habit, with tragic consequences . Drugs and poverty colour them, but these stories also depict the pain of growing up with attendant hopes and desires.

Geovani Martins has produced a spellbinding debut about masculinity, corruption, guilt, poverty and resilience. Completely of our time and yet profoundly timeless, it's a book that animates and humanises the people of a city whose humanity is often obscured by its own reputation.

The bestselling literary sensation from Brazil, The Sun on My Head is a work of great talent and heartbreaking sensitivity-a daring evocation of life in the favelas by a rising star firmly rooted in the community he portrays.

About the Author

Geovani Martins was born in 1991 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He grew up with his mother in the Rio neighbourhood of Vidigal. He supported his writing by working as a sandwich-board man and selling drinks on the beach, and was discovered during creative writing workshops at Flup, the literary festival of the Rio favelas. The Sun on My Head is his first book.

Julia Sanches translates from Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Catalan. She has translated works by Susana Moreira Marques, Noemi Jaffe, Daniel Galera, Claudia Hernandez, and Liliana Colanzi, among others. Her work has also appeared in Two Lines, Granta, Tin House, Words Without Borders, and Electric Literature. She is a founding member of the Cedilla & Co. translators' collective, and currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Book Information
ISBN 9780571348244
Author Geovani Martins
Format Paperback
Page Count 128
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 132g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 9mm