Eric M. B. Becker

Eric M. B. Becker is an American writer, editor,[1] and translator[2] of literary works from Portuguese language.

Becker currently serves as editor of the literary journal Words without Borders.[3] In 2014, he received PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant[4] for his translations of Mia Couto, and in 2016, he received a Fulbright Fellowship to translate Brazilian literature. In 2018, he was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts for his translation for the short stories of canonical Brazilian writer Lygia Fagundes Telles, a contemporary of Clarice Lispector and Hilda Hilst.[5] In 2019, he was selected for the Frankfurt Book Fair Fellowship Programme for editors.[6]

In 2016, Becker edited—with Mirna Queiroz dos Santos—an anthology of Brazilian women writers for PEN America,[7] which included a preface by American writer Claire Messud.

Becker has given interviews [8] on the subject of literary translation[9] and been profiled for newspapers[10] and television around the world. He has also given workshops[11] on the translation of Portuguese language literature in Brazil and elsewhere. He has also served on the jury[12] for the National Translation Award.