Alexandre Vidal Porto was born in São Paulo. A career diplomat, a Harvard-trained lawyer, and a human rights activist, he writes a regular column for Folha de S. Paulo. His fiction has appeared in some of the most respected literary publications in Brazil and also abroad. Sergio Y. was the winner of the Paraná Literary Prize for best novel.
Brazil
Alexandre Vidal Porto
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Alexandre Vidal Porto’s Sergio Y (translated from the Portuguese by Alex Ladd) isn’t a crime story in the strict sense of the genre, even though it does contain a crime. Winner of the Paraná Literary Prize, it’s a mystery in as much as detection and revelation of character...— Lambda Literary, Aug 14 2016![]()
Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto Alex Ladd renders in aggressively plainspoken English Alexandre Vidal Porto's short but powerful novel about a renowned therapist from São Paulo named Armando. Despite the fact that Armando is so renowned, he failed to recognize that...— The Stranger, Jul 7 2016![]()
Alexandre Vidal Porto, thank you for this beautiful, gregarious book. I loved every word of it. Thank you again.— The Hungry Reader, Jun 22 2016![]()
Armando is a seventy-year-old highly esteemed psychiatrist in São Paulo and the narrator of Sergio Y. He is writing because of a patient he had many years ago—a seventeen-year-old boy who came to see him for several months but abruptly ended their sessions without explanation...— The Gilmore Guide to Books, Jun 7 2016![]()
I really love shrink lit. There’s something about the lucid and detailed focus on the interaction between patient and psychotherapist that is somehow the essence of the reason why I read fiction. Also, the often strange and perplexing nature of case studies means that in such...— Shiny New Books, Jun 4 2016![]()
Among other things, I am a book reviewer. In other words, I spoil books for a living. I’ve been thinking about this aspect of writing – or otherwise communicating – about books recently, prompted by my reading of a novel, Sergio Y., by Alexandre Vidal Porto. I had been...— Tiny Camels / Jonathan Gibbs, May 22 2016![]()
Although this novel has a deeply tragic element to it, it’s admirable how Porto makes of the story something ultimately hopeful.— The Lonesome Reader, May 12 2016![]()
“What can’t I be in São Paulo that I could become in New York?”— Bomb Magazine, May 11 2016![]()
One of Armando’s main aims as a narrator is to complicate the narrative of gender transition, to embrace a certain measure of existential mystery that ties it to other journeys of transformation.— World Literature Today, May 10 2016![]()
A profound detective story meets a moving exploration of gender, identity, and the search for happiness in Sergio Y, the recently translated, award-winning novel by Brazilian lawyer, human rights activist, and author Alexandre Vidal Porto. Narrated by renowned São Paulo therapist...— Youtube, May 9 2016![]()
I grabbed a map of the Westbeth Artists Housing in the West Village and traced a plan for the evening of salon-style readings, part of the PEN World Voices Festival. On Thursday, April 28, residents of Westbeth opened their homes to sixteen authors from around the world who would...— Words without borders, May 9 2016![]()
Porto’s captivating, impeccably structured novel is a detective story wrapped around a deeper exploration of identity. Armando proclaims himself at the outset to be one of São Paulo’s best doctors, but the case of a 17-year-old named Sergio haunts him, due to Armando’s...— Publisher's Weekly, May 6 2016![]()
In this book on queer identity, Brazilian writer Alexandre Vidal Porto lays bare the complex relationship between patient and therapist, as well as the psychotherapist’s own torments in the course of analysis. On the couch is Sergio Y, an ‘articulate, intelligent and...— Culture Whisper, Mar 22 2016![]()
Porto’s captivating, impeccably structured novel is a detective story wrapped around a deeper exploration of identity. Armando proclaims himself at the outset to be one of São Paulo’s best doctors, but the case of a 17-year-old named Sergio haunts him, due to Armando’s...— Publisher's Weekly, Mar 8 2016
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