Vivien Kogut Lessa de Sá

Vivien Kogut Lessa de Sá is interested in comparative studies in Brazilian, Portuguese and English literatures, and in early modern travel writing. In 2015 she published a critical edition of one of the earliest descriptions of Brazil written by an Englishman (The Admirable Adventures and Strange Fortunes of Anthony Knivet: an English Pirate in Brazil, CUP). Her translation of Knivet’s account into Portuguese was published in Brazil in 2007 (As Incríveis Aventuras e Estranhos Infortúnios de Anthony Knivet, Zahar Editores). She has published articles on early modern travel to Brazil and on Shakespearean Studies, besides three collections of poetry, Água Rara, (7Letras,1996), Durante a Noite (7Letras, 2003) and Durante la Noche y otros Poemas (Siesta, 2006).

Vivien has recently translated and co-edited twelve accounts, hitherto untranslated into Portuguese, of English travellers to colonial Brazil (forthcoming). She has previously taught at the University of Essex, at the State University of Rio (UERJ) and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (PUC-Rio). In the last few years she has focused her research on a rare Brazilian manuscript from 1592 currently kept at the Bodleian Library.