Biography

Dr. NARLAN MATOS TEIXEIRA is a Brazilian-American poet, musician, and academic. He is considered to be one the most important emerging Latin American poets.

Narlan was born in the small Brazilian town of Itaquara, Bahia, in 1975. At the age of 21, he published is first poetry book Ladies and Gentleman: the Dawn!, which won the Jorge Amado House Foundation Award and launched his literary career. His second poetry book, In the Campsite of the Shadows won his first national award: the XEROX Award for Brazilian Literature in 2000. In 2002, he participated of the University of Iowa International Writing Program, as guest of the State Department through the International Visitors Leadership Program. In 2004, he returned to the United States, where he received an M.F.A. in Brazilian Literature from the University of New Mexico (2006) and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois (2012).

Narlan participates actively in various international literary programs and festivals and is the recipient of numerous literary and artistic accolades, including nomination of his third book of original poems, Elegy to the New World (7 Letras Publishers) for the prestigious Portugal /Telecom International Award. Dr. Eleuterio Diaz, (University of New Mexico) argued that this book has inaugurated a new Latin American avant-garde. Narlan's poetry has been translated into multiple languages, and he has published several books of translations. In 2017, Narlan organized and led the first delegation of US Poets to Cuba.