MARCO AMERICO LUCCHESI

MARCO AMERICO LUCCHESI (b. 1963, in Rio de Janeiro) is a poet, prose writer, essayist and translator. He is the son of Elena Dati and Egidio Lucchesi, Italians from Tuscany. The verses of the Divina Commedia and Orlando Furioso are part of his childhood memory. His wide-ranging bibliographical output includes Adeus, Pirandello (2021, novel), O Dom do Crime (2010; 2022, novel), Domínios da Insônia: novos poemas reunidos (2019, poetry), Clio (2014, poetry); Os Olhos do Deserto (2000, memoir), Saudades do Paraíso (1997, memoir); Nove Cartas Para a Divina Comedia (2021, essay), Carteiro Imaterial (2016, essay), Ficções de um Gabinete Ocidental (2008, essay).

He has translated into Portuguese authors such as Umberto Eco, Giambattista Vico, Georg Trakl, Hölderlin, Rūmī, Primo Levi, Ion Barbu, Angelus Silesius, Mohammed Iqbãl, Juan de la Cruz, among others. His books have been translated into Arabic, Romanian, Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Hindi, Swedish, Hungarian, Urdu, Bangla and Latin.

He was awarded the “Marin Sorescu” Prize; the “Machado de Assis” Prize, UBE Brazil; the “Jabuti” Poetry Prize; the International Latinity Prize; the Romanian Academy Prize; the National Museum of Romanian Literature Prize; the Ministero dei Beni Culturali Italy; the “George Bacovia” Prize; the Order of Scientific merit, Brasil; Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana.

He is a full professor of Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Letters of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He graduated in History from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and holds a Master’s Degree and a PhD in Literature Science from UFRJ, with a post-doctorate in Renaissance Philosophy from the University of Cologne, Germany. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from “Tibiscus” University in Timisoara and, in 2020, an honorary doctorate from “Aurel Vlaicu” University in Arad. He presided over the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) from 2018 to 2021. 

He is the current president of the National Library Foundation (FBN), since 2023.