João Reis is a Portuguese writer and translator

João Reis, born in 1985, is a Portuguese writer and literary translator of Scandinavian languages. He studied veterinary and philosophy and has lived in Portugal, Norway, Sweden, and in the UK.

The Translator's Bride (Open Letter Books, USA, 2019) was his first work to be translated into English. His English original novel Bedraggling Grandma with Russian Snow (Corona/ Samizdat, Slovenia, 2021) was longlisted for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award.

His third novel, The Devastation of Silence (Open Letter Books, USA, 2022), was longlisted for Prémio Oceanos 2019. His fourth novel, titled Quando Servi Gil Vicente, was released in October 2019 and also shortlisted for Prémio Fernando Namora. His latest novels in Portuguese are Se com Pétalas ou Ossos (2021) and Cadernos da Água (2022; shortlisted for Prémio Fernando Namora and Prémio Fundação Eça de Queiroz 2024).

The Translator's Bride was also published in Brazil (DBA, 2020), Georgia (Academic Press of Georgia, 2021) and Serbia (Rio Magnus, 2021). The Devastation of Silence has also been published in Serbia (Rio Magnus, 2023).

His English original novella An Atavic Fear of Hailstorms (Long Day Press, USA, July 2023) is his latest book.

Out now!

July 15, 2023
novella | pb | 64 pgs.

ISBN: 9781950987290

An English original story by João Reis, notable Portuguese translator and author, this neurotic narrator lays in his hospital bed, recounting the series of misfortune that led him there.

“A magnificent novella about miscommunication, bad decisions, and the anguish of an answered text. Told in deft and circuitous sentences, Reis flourishes in philosophical humor and the everyday, an obvious master of mixing the mundane with the profound. A perfect gem of a short novel."
—Mark Haber, author of Reinhardt's Garden and Saint Sebastian's Abyss