Alvaro do Carvalhal

Born in Padrela, Valpaços, Portugal, on February 3, 1844, Álvaro do Carvalhal studied in Braga and later enrolled in law at the University of Coimbra. He died in Coimbra on March 14, 1868, at just 24 years old, while still a student.

Despite his very short life, he made a lasting impression through fiction that mixed the fantastic, the macabre, irony, and psychological unease. He also wrote the early drama O Castigo da Vingança, but he is remembered above all for Contos, a posthumously published collection that includes stories such as Os Canibais.

For many years he was treated as a marginal or "cursed" writer, but his reputation has grown steadily. Readers now often see him as a singular figure in 19th-century Portuguese literature and an important early voice in fantastic and horror storytelling in Portuguese.