| Maria José Dupré | |
| Pseudonym: | Sra. Leandro Dupré |
| Birth Date: | 1905 |
| Death Place: | Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| Nationality: | Brazilian |
| Period: | 1938-?? |
| Genre: | Novels |
| Notableworks: | Éramos Seis (1943) |
| Awards: | Raul Pompeia Prize (1943) |
Maria José Dupré, also known as Sra. Leandro Dupré (1905 – 15 May 1984[1]), was one of the most popular and prolific Brazilian writers of the 1940s and 1950s.[2]
Born in 1905 in a small town in the state of São Paulo, Dupré published her first story "Uma Família Antiga de Jaboticabal" ("An Old Family from Jaboticabal") in the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo in 1978.[2]
Dupré published her first novel, O Romance de Teresa Bernard ("The Romance of Teresa Bernard"), in 1941.[2] Her next novel, Éramos Seis, was written in 1943 and praised by writer and critic Monteiro Lobato and became a best-seller.[2] Chronicling the struggles of a middle-class family in São Paulo, the novel was awarded the Raul Pompeia Prize for best work of 1943 by the Brazilian Academy of Letters.[2] Dupré wrote Luz e Sombra ("Light and Dark") in 1944, Gina in 1945, and Os Rodriguez ("The Rodriguezes") in 1946.[2] She published a sequel to Éramos Seis called Dona Lola in 1949.[2]
Éramos Seis has been adapted as a telenovela five times, in 1958, 1967, 1977, 1994 and 2019.
Dupré died on 15 May 1984 in Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil.[1]