Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer, and journalist—widely considered one of the most important literary voices of the 20th century in Latin America.

Born in Ukraine to a Jewish family fleeing pogroms, she emigrated to Brazil as a child. Her writing is known for its introspective, existential, and poetic qualities—often blurring the line between thought and feeling, self and other, life and art.

Her most famous works include:

The Hour of the Star Água Viva The Passion According to G.H.

She wrote in a voice entirely her own—philosophical, disjointed, alive—and is often compared to Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. She once said:

“I don’t write for people. I write for the things. I write out of pure impulse.”