José Luís Peixoto

José Luís Peixoto was born in 1974 in the small town of Galveias in Portugal’s Alentejo region. He is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary Portuguese writers. His literary debut was the novel Morreste-me (2000), published in English as You Died on Me. His work, spanning poetry, prose and drama, has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Peixoto is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the José Saramago Prize for his novel Nenhum Olhar (2000), the Daniel Faria Prize for his poetry collection Gaveta de Papéis (2008), and the Oceanos Prize for Galveias (2014). In 2007, he received the Cálamo “Otra Mirada” Award for his novel Cemitério de Pianos (2006), an annual prize awarded to the best foreign novel published in Spain. In 2026, he was awarded the Vergílio Ferreira Prize for lifetime achievement.

His work available in Slovak includes Cintorín klavírov (2017) and Nedeľný obed (2024), published by the Portuguese Institute, as well as the short story Mŕtvola Jamesa Joycea, included in the anthology 9+1 (2022). His latest novel, A Montanha, published in 2025, explores the theme of cancer and returns thematically to some of his earlier works, including his debut Morreste-me.

Alongside his native Alentejo, Peixoto draws inspiration from his travels around the world. He writes travel pieces for various magazines, and his travel books Dentro do Segredo: Uma viagem pela Coreia do Norte (2012) and O Caminho Imperfeito (2017) have received widespread critical and popular acclaim. He shares his travel projects, including JLP in situ, a series in which he writes poetry in different locations. These poems can be found on his website, joseluispeixotoemviagem.com.