Gabriel Abreu is a writer and multidisciplinary artist from Rio de Janeiro, born in 1993. He holds a degree in Literature, Art, and Contemporary Thought from PUC-Rio and completed the Training Program at the School of Visual Arts at Parque Lage. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Performing Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
From 2017 to 2023, he was a member of Brecha, a platform for continuous artistic creation and research. With the group, he worked on the web series “Língua” (2020) as producer, director, writer, and actor, and on the play-film “Já Não Somos Doces” (2021) as producer and actor.
In 2022, he was selected for the Literary Creation Workshop at PUCRS, taught by Luis Antonio de Assis Brasil, and contributed to the short story anthology “Ninguém nunca sabe”. That same year, he participated in the first edition of the Interdisciplinary Artistic Residency and Festival ONSITE, organized by the Po:era collective at Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge in Berlin. He has also taught the writing workshops Jogos de Escrita and LABo Escrita, and coordinated the anthology “Contos de Fachada” (2022), in which he is also featured.
He took part in the exhibition “Formação e Deformação” (2018) at EAV Parque Lage, presenting the work “Prefiro Rir”, which later inspired his first novel, “Triste não é ao certo a palavra”, published by Companhia das Letras (Penguin Random House) in 2023. The novel was named one of the literary highlights of the year by O Globo newspaper and one of the best books of 2023 by Quatro Cinco Um, Brazil’s leading literary magazine. It received the IESS Prize for debut authors in Latin America, awarded by the Italo-Latin American International Organization (IILA), and was published by Edizioni SUR in Italy in October 2025 (translation by Dea Merlini). The novel was also adapted for theater in Brazil and is scheduled to be released in Spain by Las Afueras in February 2026.
In April 2024, Gabriel participated in the Literary Residency Program in Óbidos, Portugal, as part of the Latitudes – Literature and Travelers Festival. That same year, he wrote one of the afterwords for the new edition of “Letter to His Father” by Franz Kafka, published by Antofágica.
Email: gambreu@gmail.com
Instagram: @gambreu
International rights: Anna Luiza Cardoso (LVB&Co.) at annaluiza@lvbco.com.br.
gabriel abreu 