Hélio Pólvora (1928) usually describes himself as "a poor man from Ibatuna," a takeoff on the Portuguese writer Eça de Queiroz.  He also says that he came out of "the womb of a cocoa tree grove."  Itabuna is the commercial hub of the Cocoa Region in the southern part of the State of Bahia.

He learned how to read, taught by his mother, figuring out the meaning of newspaper headlines. Later, he read each one of the books in the small family library, completed his primary schooling and started high school in Itabuna, but finished it in Salvador, Bahia, after 1942.

In 1947, he returned to his hometown and became a reporter for the weekly Voz de Itabuna.  On January 16, 1953, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro - five days before the death of the novelist Graciliano Ramos, with whom he had hoped to have a long conversation.

He worked in practically every newsroom in Rio, wrote literary reviews and began his activities as a writer of fiction.

Some of his books:  Os Galos da Aurora (The Roosters of Dawn), 1950; Estranhos e Assustados (Strangers and Afraid), 1966;  Noites Vivas (Living Nights), 1971; Massacre no Km 13 (Massacre on Km 13), 1978; O Grito da Perdiz (The Scream of the Partridge), 1982; Mar de Azov (The Azov Sea), 1986;  and Xerazade (Scheherazade), 1990 - all of them collections of short stories and novelettes.

He returned to Bahia after a long absence of 32 years.

Hélio is still a journalist in Salvador and is, currently, president of the Cultural Foundation of Ilhéus, in Bahia. 

Additionally, he is the coordinator for the Internet site Jornal de Contos (www.jornaldecontos.com.br). His e-mail address is hpolvora@gmail.com.

He also earns his living as columnist and translator.

The following biographies on this site were written by Hélio Pólvora: