Contents
Jorge Amado
Writing widely translated novels of Bahia, including Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon.
Captains of the Sands · Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
- Born
- 10 August 1912
- Birthplace
- Itabuna, Brazil
- Died
- 6 August 2001
More people
Jorge Amado
Brazilian writer whose fiction explores class, desire and popular culture, often through the lives of people outside respectable society.
Early life
Cocoa country
Born in the cocoa-growing region of Bahia and raised partly in Ilhéus.
Journalistic beginnings
Began working with newspapers as a young man before completing legal studies.
Career
- 1930s
Early novels
Established himself with socially engaged fiction about workers and marginalized people.
- 1940s–1950s
Politics and exile
Served as a federal deputy and spent periods abroad during political repression.
- Late 1950s onward
A broader comic voice
His later fiction combined social observation with humour, sensuality and Bahian traditions.
Selected work
Captains of the Sands
A novel about homeless children in Salvador.
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
A cook’s arrival unsettles a changing cocoa town.
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
A widow’s new marriage is complicated by the return of her dead husband.
Beyond work
A literary household
Shared his life with writer Zélia Gattai.
Religious freedom
Defended freedom of worship and took a lasting interest in Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and references ↗Biography and contributions ↗Photo: Bernard Gotfryd. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
