Fabiane Guimarães

Fabiane Guimarães was born in 1991 in the state of Goias, Brazil, where she grew up and started writing at a very young age. She has a degree in Journalism from the University of Brasilia (UnB), where she currently lives, and worked as journalist and editor before dedicating herself full time to literature and motherhood. She is the author of the lauded and successful novels APAGUE A LUZ SE FOR CHORAR (LIGHTS OUT, HERE COME THE TEARS), COMO SE FOSSE UM MONSTRO (JUST LIKE A MONSTER), and A LINGUAGEM DOS DESASTRES (THE LANGUAGE OF DISASTERS), all published by Alfaguara/Companhia das Letras.
Her novels were finalists of the most important literary awards in Brazil, such as Jabuti, São Paulo Literary Prize and Candango. She is the most prominent literary voice from a new generation of writers from Brasília and has the Brazilian Midwest and the capital of the country as the main settings of her novels. She has a trendy newsletter on Substack that became a reference for young new authors and works as a literary critical reader as well.
A LANGUAGE FOR DISASTERS (A LINGUAGEM DOS DESASTRES)
A LANGUAGE FOR DISASTERS is a novel about the climate crisis and how nature’s transformations will become deeply embedded in the lives of future generations. With an arresting, immersive rhythm, it tells a story that envisions what lies ahead while remaining anchored in the urgency of the present.

Born in the aftermath of a devastating drought, Catarina grows up surrounded by alternating landscapes of chaos. The daughter of a dreamy artist and a pragmatic banker, she is one of the few children in her town, as parenthood has become an increasingly rare choice. When she befriends her new neighbor, Augusto, she forges a connection that will haunt and shape both their lives in devastating ways.

Raised in a loving home and surrounded by care, Catarina’s parents soon realize she is an unusual child, gifted with a rare sensitivity to see what no one else can. After quietly stealing a tarot deck from her mother’s belongings, she becomes fascinated by the cards, eventually growing into a prodigious fortune-teller, serving desperate clients online. Augusto, in contrast, must navigate the harshness of a home marked by his mother’s alcoholism, learning about hatred far too early and scraping by through delivery work on a smartphone app.
As their lives collide and drift apart, the outside world changes with ever-growing violence—storms, floods, and coastal cities vanishing overnight. In their small town in Brazil’s Midwest, a massive wildfire approaches, leaving behind scorched scars wherever it passes. Catarina senses the danger closing in; Augusto chooses to ignore it. Through a narrative as urgent as it is intimate, A LANGUAGE FOR DISASTERS asks a piercing question: in a world on the brink, is it still possible to believe in salvation?

Publication/Status: To be published by Companhia das Letras in March 2026.
JUST LIKE A MONSTER (COMO SE FOSSE UM MONSTRO)
A novel about what it means to make choices — and how those choices inevitably alter the lives of others — JUST LIKE A MONSTER is a searing reflection on motherhood, guilt, and the right to decide. It tells the story of Damiana, a poor woman born inrural Brazil, who in the 1990s moves to the capital to work as a maid for a wealthy couple. When she is offered a considerable sum of money to bear a child for them, she accepts, setting in motion a series of negotiations involving her own body.

In the present day, an elderly Damiana recounts her story to Gabriela, a journalist who finds herself intimately drawn to it, as she too grapples with questions about rejecting motherhood. In this novel, motherhood is stripped of romanticized illusions and shown for what it truly is: a right, and a deeply personal choice.
A finalist for the Jabuti Prize — Brazil’s most prestigious literary award — and with rights sold and optioned for audiovisual adaptation, JUST LIKE A MONSTER invites readers into a story as original as it is haunting, told with unflinching honesty and emotional force.

Publication/Status: Published by Alfaguara/Companhia das Letras (Brazil) in March 2023. Film rights optioned by screenwriters Angela Chaves and Patricia Andrade. [176 pages]

English sample available.
LIGHTS OUT, HERE COME THE TEARS (APAGUE A LUZ SE FOR CHORAR)
Cecília doesn’t know what to do with her own life. After moving from Brasília to Rio de Janeiro, she can’t find a job or prepare for the future. João, a single father of a boy with cerebral palsy, tries to make a living in Brasilia as best as he can. He works as a vet during the day and tries odd jobs at night — the main goal is to earn enough money to afford an experimental treatment for his son. When the parents of Cecilia suddenly die, she is forced to go back to her small town, where they still lived. However, a doubt begins to torment her: the possibility of murder. At the same time, João, who is desperate for cash, starts accepting some very suspicious jobs.
While intersecting two narratives, Fabiane Guimarães portraits the countryside of Brasil and creates a shocking thriller about the many meanings of family and the boundaries we are willing to cross to protect it.

Publication/Status: Published by Companhia das Letras (Brazil) in February 2021 and in digital format by Legimi (Poland) in November 2022. Film rights sold to Tambellini Filmes, shooting starting in 2026. [176 pages]
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