Oscar Nakasato

Oscar Nakasato is Brazilian, grandson of Japanese immigrants. He is a writer and college professor. Master in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature and Ph.D. in Brazilian Literature, he published his thesis entitled IMAGES OF INTEGRATION AND DUALITY: JAPANESE- BRAZILIAN CHARACTERS IN FICTION by Blücher, in 2010. For years, he wrote critical reviews of Japanese literature for daily Folha de S. Paulo.
He won literary awards with the tales HELLO, PERI’S EYES and BOY ON THE TREE. Already published in Japan, NIHONJIN, Nakasato’s debut novel, won the following awards: Benvirá Prize for Literature (2011), Bunkyo Prize for Literature (2011) and the Jabuti Award (2012).
TWO (DOIS)
Two distinct voices narrate this novel. Two elderly brothers tell their lives each from a different angle, with a different focus, revealing their peculiar identities. The oldest, Zé Paulo, is conservative and methodical. The youngest, Zé Eduardo, is restless and unstable. While Zé Paulo’s language is colloquial, as he is talking to his grandson, Zé Eduardo’s narrative is formal, he is writing his diary. They have two other siblings: Zé Carlos, a policeman, and Maria Luisa, who abdicates her personal life and devotes herself to their family. Zé Paulo lives all his life in Maringá, a provincial town; there, he gets married and has three children.
Zé Eduardo leaves to São Paulo, where he integrates an urban guerrilla during the military dictatorship and, as a result, is exiled. When he returns to Brazil, he is back in touch with his older brother, but their relationship is never to be warm. Ana Paula, Zé Paulo’s teenage daughter, is rejected by her father and finds refuge in her uncle’s words and arms. Then a tragedy ends the fraternal relationship for good.

Publication/Status: by Tordesilhas (Brazil) in November 2017.
NIHONJIN (NIHONJIN)
It is a fictional memoir narrated by the protagonist’s grandson telling the story of a family of Japanese immigrants along eight decades of the 20th century. Hideo Inabata arrives in Brazil with his wife and faces hard work on the coffee plantations, the difficulty of adaptation to the new country, discrimination and restrictions on individual freedom during the Second World War. The Brazilianization and political-ideological positions of his son and the interracial marriage of his daughter are reasons for major conflicts.
Winner of Benvirá Prize for Literature (2011) and Jabuti Award for best novel in 2012), NIHONJIN was also considered one of the ten best works of Brazilian literature according to the reviewers of Homoliteratus website. It is also among the 20 best narratives of the last 20 years according to a poll conducted by the newspaper Cândido, in 2014.

Publication/Status: by Benvirá (Brazil), in 2011, by Nikkei Bungaku (Brazil/ Japan), in Japanese, by Textofilia (Mexico) in 2021, and by Suiseisha (Japan) in 2022. Film rights sold to TV Pinguim. [176 pages]
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