Angolan · b. 1977
Ondjaki is the pen name of Ndalu de Almeida, an Angolan writer born in Luanda in 1977. He writes novels, short stories, poetry and children's books in Portuguese, and he has also worked in film. He studied sociology in Lisbon and later took a doctorate in African studies. His early work, such as Bom dia camaradas (Good Morning Comrades), draws on a childhood in Luanda during the civil war and the end of one-party socialism. Later books, including Os Transparentes (Transparent City, translated by Stephen Henighan), turn to satire, magical realism and political allegory about the Angolan capital. He has won the Grinzane Cavour Prize for young writers in Italy and the José Saramago Prize runner-up recognition, and he has received the Jabuti Prize in Brazil. His books have been translated into many languages. Ondjaki is one of the best-known Angolan writers of his generation and a leading voice in Lusophone African literature.