Hilda Hilst

Hilda de Almeida Prado Hilst, more widely known as Hilda Hilst (Jaú,April 21, 1930–CampinasFebruary 4, 2004) was a Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist, whose fiction and poetry were generally based upon delicate intimacy and often insanity and supernatural events. Particularly her late works belong to the tradition of magic realism.

In 1948 she enrolled the Law Course in Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo(Largo São Francisco), finishing it in 1952. There she met her best friend, the writer Lygia Fagundes Telles. In 1966, Hilda moved to "Casa do Sol" (Sunhouse), a country seat next to Campinas, where she hosted a lot of writers and artists for several years. Living there, she dedicated all her time to literary creation.

Hilda Hilst wrote for almost fifty years, and granted the most important Brazilian literary prizes. In 1962 won the Prêmio PEN Clube of São Paulo, for "Sete Cantos do Poeta para o Anjo" (Massao Ohno Editor, 1962). In 1969, the play "O Verdugo" took the Prêmio Anchieta, one of the most important in the coutry at the time. The Associação Brasileira de Críticos de Arte (APCA Prize) deemed "Ficções" (Edições Quíron, 1977) the best book of the year. In 1981, Hilda Hilst got the "Grande Prêmio da Crítica para o Conjunto da Obra", by the same Associação Brasileira de Críticos de Arte. In 1984, the Câmara Brasileira do Livro gives her the Jabuti Prize to "Cantares de Perda e Predileção", and, in the next year, the same book succeed the [Prêmio Cassiano Ricardo (Clube de Poesia de São Paulo). "Rútilo Nada", published in 1993, takes the Jabuti Prize as best short story. And, finally, in August, 9th, 2002, she is awarded at the 47th edition of Prêmio Moinho Santista in the "poetry" category.The writer joined, from 1982, the "Programa do Artista Residente", of Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP.Polemic issues, as lesbianism and homosexuality, were tackled by the author in several writings.Her personal files are in IEL-UNICAMP since 1995, available to researchers worldwide. Some of her texts were translated to French, English, Italian and German. In March of 1997, her works "Com meus olhos de cão" and "A obscena senhora D" were published by Editora Gallimard, Maryvonne Lapouge translation.

Further reading

* Querioz, V. (2000). "Hilda Hilst: três leituras". Editora Mulheres. ISBN 8586501220
* Bueno, M. A., & Hilst, H. (1996). "Quatro mulheres e um destino: Hilda Hilst, Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Eliane Duarte". Rio de Janeiro, UAPE. ISBN 858566617X

External links

* [http://www.releituras.com/hildahilst_bio.asp Bio details, Releituras.com] - in Portuguese