Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839–1908) was a Brazilian writer. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he came from a modest background and initially trained as a printer. He later worked as a journalist and entered the civil service. His wide-ranging body of work includes poetry, plays, more than 200 short stories, and nine novels. His best-known works include *The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas* and *Dom Casmurro*. Machado de Assis was a co-founder of the Brazilian Academy of Language and Poetry and became its first president in 1879.