Born 1944 in Rio de Janeiro, Chico Buarque is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet. Although he first made his name as a musician, in 1968 Buarque was imprisoned by the Brazilian dictatorship for writing and composing the existential play Roda Viva. During the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with other artists in protest against the dictatorship. He is the author of numerous novels; in 2010 Spilt Milk won both of Brazil's leading literary prizes, the Prêmio Jabuti and the Prêmio Portugal Telecom.
He lives in Rio de Janeiro.
Alison Entrekin is an acclaimed translator of Portuguese. Her work includes short fiction and poetry for anthologies and literary magazines, in addition to children's fiction, biographies, and novels, including City of God by Paulo Lins; The Eternal Son by Cristovão Tezza, shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, shortlisted for the PEN America Translation Prize; and Budapest by Chico Buarque, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.