Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Brazilian full-time writer and editor. With a gypsy lifestyle, I’ve been moving from country to country in the past 8 years. I’ve lived in New York City, Argentina, Italy, Spain, and I’m currently living in Portugal. Many of my books reflect this passion for traveling and the experience of being an expat.
In Portuguese, I’ve published three novels, one short-story collection, three travel guides and a photography course book. Recently, I’ve translated and published my first novel in English, “The Innocent Thugs”.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book and not published yet is titled “The Blind Dog of Guardia Vieja Street”. It was inspired in the awful experience I had of living in Buenos Aires.
It’s about a foreign writer-to-be who moves to Argentina to work on a novel. This writer is a fan of Borges and other Argentinean authors, but quickly realizes the clash between the fictional and the real Buenos Aires.
Isolated from his family and friends, the character adopts a street dog that becomes his sole companion at first.
It is a very introspective and philosophical book, digging into some profound human inquiries.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually write many books at the same time.
Nowadays, I’m writing one YA novel, two novellas, one memoir book, one literary fiction novel, and two short-stories books.
Somehow, I always manage to finish most of the books I’m writing. Some of them just take longer to get written than the others though.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a very avid reader, at least used to be before my first son was born last year.
Most of the writers I admire have a very different writing style than my own, which is even more stimulating to me, teaching me new techniques and ways of expression.
I’m a great fan of Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, Milan Kundera, Henry Miller, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, Fernando Pessoa, Albert Camus, and many others.
In the intellectual ground, I owe much to Nietzsche, Bataille, Foucault, Lyotard and some post-modern thinkers.
What are you working on now?
As I said, I’m working on my books at the same time, but I’m devoting more time to two of them.
One is a YA novel about a dragon hunter apprentice in a setting that resembles medieval Spain, the other is a novella “celebrating” the World Cup of soccer in Brazil this year. The funny part is that I hate soccer with all my heart…
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a satisfactory platform for my books in Portuguese, and one of my blogs has almost a million reader per year.
In English, I’m still trying to pave my way publishing one book after the other. I’m planning to release another novel in the next few months.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think the only two essential advises are:
1 – you’re not a writer unless you write. You must always write, in each day of your life, about everything under the Sun.
2 – you must have patience. Nothing happens overnight, at least not for the majority of artists. Work hard one day after the other, seducing one reader after the other. Someday, you’ll look back and see that you have walked a long road already, even if you have the impression of being stuck on the same place all the time.
Writing is a long, perhaps endless, journey.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do not quit.
Being a writer has nothing to do with talent or with being a genious. It’s about fighting relentlessly for what you believe to be your destiny.
And I always took this advice seriously.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading W. B. Sebald’s “Austerlitz”, and I’m loving it. This novel has a very different approach to fiction and to writing in general.
I’m also reading Juan Rulfo’s “Pedro Páramo”, considered to be one of the best novels written in Spanish. It’s a quite extraordinary piece of fiction.
What’s next for you as a writer?
My goal is to translate most of my work to English and Spanish to reach a broader audience. The American book market is the last frontier for any foreign writer, it’s like climbing the Mount Everest.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d probably pick some books I could read again hundred of time and not be bored. My choice would be Fernando Pessoa’s “The Book of Disquiet,” Joyce’s “Ulysses,” Borges’ “Fictions” and Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”.
But if I could choose, I’d rather have my wife, my son and my dog with me. No book should substitute the company of your loved ones. Never!
Author Websites and Profiles
Henry Alfred Bugalho Website
Henry Alfred Bugalho Amazon Profile
Henry Alfred Bugalho Author Profile on Smashwords
Henry Alfred Bugalho’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account