Clarice Lispector(1920–1977), the greatest Brazilian writer of the twentieth century, has been called “astounding” (Rachel Kushner), “a penetrating genius”
(Donna Seaman, Booklist), and “a truly remarkable writer” (Jonathan Franzen). “Her images dazzle even when her meaning is most obscure,” noted the Times Literary
Supplement, “and when she is writing of what she despises, she is lucidity itself.”
Benjamin Moser is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle award. At New Directions, he edits the new translation of Clarice Lispector's work, of which The Besieged City is the eighth volume. For promoting her work around the world, the Brazilian government awarded him the first State Prize in Cultural Diplomacy. A former books columnist at Harper’s Magazine and The New York Times Book Review, his latest book, Sontag: Her Life and Work, is published by Ecco Press.
Johnny Lorenz, son of Brazilian immigrants to the United States,
was born in 1972. He received his doctorate in English from the
University of Texas at Austin in 2000, and he is an associate professor at
Montclair State University. In 2013, he was a finalist for Best Translated Book for his translation ofA Breath of Lifeby
Clarice Lispector (New Directions). His book of original poems, Education by
Windows, was published in 2018 by Poets & Traitors Press; it includes his translations of the poet Mario Quintana, for which he received a Fulbright grant. He has published articles on
Brazilian literature in journals such asLuso-Brazilian ReviewandModern Fiction Studies. He is also the translator of Lispector's The Besieged City (New Directions).
