| João Paulo Cuenca | |
| Birth Date: | August 4, 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| Alma Mater: | UFRJ |
| Genre: | Magical Realism |
| Notableworks: | Descobri que estava morto (2015) |
| Awards: | Prêmio Literário Biblioteca Nacional, 2016 |
João Paulo Cuenca (born 4 August 1978), also known as J.P. Cuenca, is an Argentine-Brazilian writer and filmmaker. He was selected for Bogotá 39 in 2007 and for Best of Young Brazilian Writers by Granta in 2012.
João Paulo Cuenca was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1978. He is the author of the following works: Body present (2003), The Mastroianni Day (2007), The only happy ending for a love story is an accident (2010) and The day I found out I was dead (2015). His novels have been translated into eight languages and have been sold to eleven countries. He has been a weekly columnist for major Brazilian newspapers and magazines since 2003, and currently contributes to Folha de São Paulo, the largest national newspaper in Brazil. An anthology of his articles, entitled The Last Dawn, was published in 2012.
In 2007, he was selected by the Hay Festival and the organisers of the Bogotá World Book Capital as one of the 39 most prominent Latin American writers under the age of 39. Additionally, he was selected for the inaugural edition of Best of Young Brazilian Novelists in the Granta literary magazine in 2012. In recent years, he has also produced a number of dramatic works, including plays, films and television scripts. His first feature film as a writer and director, entitled The Death of J.P. Cuenca, was selected for the inaugural Venice Biennale College Production Lab and premiered at the Rio and São Paulo International Film Festivals. It was subsequently selected for the main competition at the CPH:DOX, a leading European film festival, held in Denmark.
He delivered lectures as a guest writer at PUC-Rio (2004), UFRJ (2004), Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III (2006), Columbia University (2011), Princeton University (2011, 2014), and Heidelberg University. He has also delivered lectures at numerous other institutions, including the University of Salzburg (2012), Yale University (2014), Brown University (2013, 2014), UCLA (2014), Stanford University (2014), and the University of Illinois (2014), among many others. He was invited to participate in a number of international literary festivals, including the Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 2008, 2013), the Berlin International Literature Festival (2012, 2013), the Frankfurt Book Fair (2012, 2013), the Xalapa Hay Festival in Mexico (2012), and the Guadalajara Book Fair (2012). Additionally, he has participated in various other notable events, including the Frankfurt Book Fair (2012, 2013), the Hay Festival (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 2008, 2013), the Berlin International Literature Festival (2012, 2013), the Frankfurt Book Fair (2012, 2013), the Xalapa Hay Festival in Mexico (2012), the Americas Society Symposium on Brazilian Literature (New York, 2011), the Festival Vivamerica (Madrid, 2011), the Correntes d'Escritas (Portugal, 2008, 2009, 2011), and many others. In 2013, he served as the chief curator of the Bahia Book Fair and in 2014, he did the same for the Belo Horizonte Book Fair. In 2013, he was awarded a Civitella Ranieri Writing Fellowship and in 2014, he held the position of Writer-in-Residence at the Programa Avançado de Cultura Contemporânea of UFRJ (PACC).
In addition to his work as a novelist, Cuenca was a prolific journalist and columnist for numerous prominent Brazilian newspapers and magazines, including O Globo. His anthology of chronicles and columns, entitled A Última Madrugada (2012; tr. The Last Dawn), was recently published. Cuenca's texts have been included in a number of anthologies, both within Brazil and internationally.