The character arc of Jose Eduardo Agualusa

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 13 December 1960 in Huambo, Angola, of Portuguese and Brazilian descent. Between then and now sit a degree in agronomy and forestry in Lisbon, a first novel in 1996, a national prize in 1997, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007, a Man Booker International shortlist in 2016, the International Dublin Literary Award in 2017, and a public library being built on the Island of Mozambique. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Jose Eduardo Agualusa?

He trained to plant forests, and wrote Angola instead.

He was born in Huambo, then called Nova Lisboa, in 1960, of Portuguese and Brazilian descent, in an Angola that was about to spend decades at war. He went to Lisbon and studied agronomy and silviculture, which is the science of growing forests. It is a serious qualification for a life he did not lead.

He turned to writing instead, as a novelist and a journalist, in Portuguese. Rainy Season came in 1996, a novel built around the life of the poet Lidia do Carmo Ferreira. Creole followed in 1997 and took the RTP Grande Premio de Literatura. His books have been described as lyrical and unapologetically strange, which is a fair warning: the dead narrate, geckos remember previous lives, and history arrives sideways.

The Book of Chameleons, published in 2004, won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007, translated by Daniel Hahn. A General Theory of Oblivion, published in 2012, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 and won the International Dublin Literary Award, worth a hundred thousand euro, in 2017. He now lives on the Island of Mozambique, writing and building a public library there. His line is worth reading because the qualification and the life have nothing to do with each other, and he went with the life.

The moments

Jose Eduardo Agualusa's timeline.

The 1980s

~1985

Agronomy and forestry

Milestone, and it changed everything. He qualified to grow forests, and then did not.

The 1990s

1 Jan 1990

Grow forests, or write

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: write instead, taken, or use the qualification. He won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007 and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2017.

~1996

Rainy Season

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A first novel about a poet, which is a writer declaring what he cares about.

~1997

Creole took the prize

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The second book, and the first prize.

The 2000s

~2004

The Book of Chameleons

Milestone. Narrated by a gecko who remembers being someone else. It works.

~2007

The Independent prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. Three years after publication, English readers found it and gave it their prize for translated fiction.

The 2010s

~2012

A General Theory of Oblivion

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A woman bricks herself into her flat as Angola changes hands, and stays there for decades.

14 Apr 2016

Shortlisted for the Booker International

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The shortlist, which he did not win. The next year made up for it.

21 Jun 2017

The Dublin award

Milestone, and it changed everything. One of the largest prizes in fiction anywhere, for a novel about a woman who walled herself in.

The 2020s

~2020

A library on an island

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Not a book this time. A building, with other people's books in it.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is partly a shelf of novels that carry Angola into other languages, and partly a library going up on an island, which is a slower thing and may outlast the books.

What he wrote

Books by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

1997
Creole
2004
The Book of Chameleons
2007
My Father's Wives
2012
A General Theory of Oblivion

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Jose Eduardo Agualusa: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Jose Eduardo Agualusa's character arc?

A man who qualified in agronomy and forestry and never used it, becoming instead the novelist who carried Angola into other languages. He won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007 and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2017.

What were the turning points in Jose Eduardo Agualusa's life?

Studying agronomy and silviculture in Lisbon, and then not using it. Publishing Rainy Season in 1996. The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007, which opened English, and the Dublin award in 2017.

What did Jose Eduardo Agualusa study?

Agronomy and silviculture, the science of growing forests, in Lisbon. He never made a career of it. He became a novelist and journalist writing in Portuguese, and his first novel appeared in 1996.

What prizes has Jose Eduardo Agualusa won?

The RTP Grande Premio de Literatura for Creole in 1997, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for The Book of Chameleons in 2007, and the International Dublin Literary Award, worth a hundred thousand euro, for A General Theory of Oblivion in 2017.

What is A General Theory of Oblivion, by Jose Eduardo Agualusa?

His novel of 2012, in which a woman bricks herself into her flat as Angola changes hands and stays there for decades. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 and won the Dublin award the following year.

Where does Jose Eduardo Agualusa live?

On the Island of Mozambique, where he works as a writer and journalist and is establishing a public library. He was born in Huambo, in Angola, in 1960, and studied in Lisbon.

What kind of novels does Jose Eduardo Agualusa write?

Strange ones, rooted in Angola. His work has been described as lyrically experimental and unabashedly odd: The Book of Chameleons is narrated by a gecko who remembers a previous life, and history tends to arrive sideways rather than head on.

Where does this timeline of Jose Eduardo Agualusa's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Jose Eduardo Agualusa isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Jose Eduardo Agualusa, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, 2007 award record.
International Dublin Literary Award, 2017 award record.
Man Booker International Prize, 2016 shortlist.