
Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room N3168
1226 Park Street
΢ÃÜÆÆ½â, IA 50112
United States
Bruna Dantas Lobato
Bruna Dantas Lobato is a writer, translator of Brazilian literature, and Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at ΢ÃÜÆÆ½â.
Her debut novel, , was published in 2024 by Black Cat/Grove Atlantic in North America and is forthcoming in several countries—including Brazil and Portugal, in her own translation. Her fiction has appeared in , Guernica, A Public Space, and The Common, and has received support from MacDowell, Yaddo, Jentel, A Public Space, NYU, Disquiet International, and more.
Her translation of The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel won the . Other translations have received the English PEN Translates Award and the PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and have been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the PEN Translation Prize, and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Her essays and criticism have appeared or are forthcoming in The New York Times Book Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Literary Hub, Violent Phenomena: Essays Toward the Future of Literary Translation (HarperCollins, 2026), and elsewhere.
Dantas Lobato has taught creative writing at New York University, the Bennington College MFA in Writing, Bread Loaf, the Center for Fiction, and Catapult. She holds an MFA in Fiction from NYU, an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, and a BA in Literature from Bennington College. Born and raised in Natal, Brazil, she lives in Iowa.
Education and Degrees
MFA, Creative Writing-Fiction, New York University
MFA, Literary Translation, University of Iowa
BA, Literature, Bennington College
Selected Publications
Fiction
Blue Light Hours: a novel, Grove Atlantic, 2024
"Movie of My Life," The Dial, 2024
"Snowstorm," The New Yorker, 2022
"Reunion," Guernica, 2022
"Diversions," A Public Space, 2018
"Firsthand Account," The Common, 2017
Translation
No Dragons in Paradise by Caio Fernando Abreu, Archipelago Books, 2027
The Lights of Niteroi by Marcello Quintanilha, Fantagraphics, 2026
There's No Point in Dying by Francisco Maciel, New Vessel Press, 2026
Dive by Volnei Canônica and Mariana Massarani, Tapioca Stories, 2026
No One Slept by Rafael Sica, Tapioca Stories, 2025
The Tokyo Suite by Giovana Madalosso, Europa Editions, 2025
So What If I'm a Puta by Amara Moira, Feminist Press, 2025
The Dark Side of Skin by Jeferson Tenório, Charco Press, 2024
The Words that Remain by Stênio Gardel, New Vessel Press, 2023
The Collector of Heads by Ana Matsusaki, Tapioca Stories, 2023
Moldy Strawberries by Caio Fernando Abreu, Archipelago Books, 2022