Lília Guerra
Lília Guerra | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) |
| Occupation | Author |
Lília Guerra (born 1976, in São Paulo) is a Brazilian author known for her work O céu para os bastardos.
Biography
Lília Guerra is a Brazilian author, known for works such as O céu para os bastardos (Heaven is for the Bastards). She was born in São Paulo in 1976 into a matriarchal household consisting of her mother, grandmother and sister. Guerra never met her father who had a relationship with her mother as a teenager when he was 76 years old, as she found out from her half-sister.[1] She was close to her grandmother who she took care of in her later years saying "A lot of what I write are conversations that I would like to have with people and couldn't. The main one is my grandmother, we spent a lot of time alone, we talked a lot".[2]
Guerra has two daughters, Barbara and Thaís, and has lived in Cidade Tiradentes in east São Paulo since 1999.[1] In 2025, Guerra works as a nursing assistant for the Unified Health Service (Único de Saúde (SUS)).[3] She also promotes literacy initiatives in São Paulo.[4]
Before nursing, she was a maid, as was her mother and grandmother, and she describes it as a right of passage that her daughters were spared from.[2] Guerra had a close relationship with literature from a young age saying “The library was my home and the books were my toys”.[5]
Career
Guerra began her publishing career in 2014 with Amor Avenida, inspired by her mother’s life and relationship to Guerra’s father.[6] Her 2018 collection of short stories Perifobia was a finalist for the 2019 Rio Literature Award. In 2021, Rua do larguinho was published, a novel that centers the stories of ordinary black women working as domestic workers. In 2022, Guerra published Crônicas para colorir a cidade and Novelas que escrevi para o rádio Vol. 1, 2 e 3.[6] In September 2023, O céu para os bastardos was published, and was a finalist in the São Paulo literature prize.[7] Her unpublished work Cavco do Oficio was selected as one of 61 pieces for the Carolina Maria de Jesus Award for Literature Produced by Women.[4]
She says much of her work is dedicated to her grandmother Dona Júlia.[2]
Guerra centers her work on women on the periphery of Brazilian society, describing the reason she names all her characters as, "We don't have a name anymore, almost never. It's the coffee girl, the cleaning aunt, the lunch girl. I want people to have a name, a face, a story."[1]
References
- ^ a b c "Quem é Lilia Guerra, que cria literatura de primeira entre o ônibus e o trabalho no SUS". Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-09-17. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ a b c "Saiba quem é Lilia Guerra, escritora que produz protagonistas negras e periféricas - Estadão Expresso" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-12-18. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ "Conversation with the Author debuts series of interviews recorded at Flip". O’Maringa.com. 7 September 2025. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
- ^ a b "Podcast do PublishNews #382 - Lilia Guerra na Casa". PublishNews. 4 August 2025. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
- ^ Stabile, Amanda (2023-12-18). "Lilia Guerra: a escritora que coloca mulheres negras e periféricas no centro da cena". Nós, mulheres da periferia (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ a b Geral, Admin (2023-11-01). "O céu de Lilia Guerra". Quatro cinco um (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ "Conheça finalistas do Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura 2024". Fotografia - Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2024-10-24.