The Sun on My Head

(Paperback, Main)

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'A blaze of heat, love and risk that will leave you reeling.' - DBC Pierre

The Sun On My Head is a collection of thirteen short stories set in Rio's largest favela, Rocinha. The collection gravitates around the childhoods and teenage years of boys who, in spite of having to deal with the anguish and difficulties inherent to their age, also struggle with the violence involved in growing up on the less favoured side of the 'Broken City'.

In stories such as 'Flash Mob', a group of teenagers goes to the beach in the summer of 2015, a time marked by Rio's military police presence, allegedly aimed at discouraging organized gang looting. In 'Fr. Miguel Station, a group of friends find themselves staring down the barrels of militia semi-automatics, while in 'Russian Roulette', the routine of some children in Bangu is sent into a spin by the appearance of a revolver.

This is a spellbinding debut about masculinity, corruption, guilt, poverty and resilience. Martins boasts superb mastery of both form and storytelling; this story collection is completely of our time yet promises to be profoundly timeless.

Author Bio

Geovani Martins was born in 1991 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He grew up with his mother in the Rio neighbourhood of Vidigal. He supported his writing by working as a sandwich-board man and selling drinks on the beach, and was discovered during creative writing workshops at Flup, the literary festival of the Rio favelas. The Sun on My Head is his first book.

Julia Sanches translates from Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Catalan. She has translated works by Susana Moreira Marques, Noemi Jaffe, Daniel Galera, Claudia Hernandez, and Liliana Colanzi, among others. Her work has also appeared in Two Lines, Granta, Tin House, Words Without Borders, and Electric Literature. She is a founding member of the Cedilla & Co. translators' collective, and currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.