Raduan Nassar was born on November 27, 1935, in Pindorama, São Paulo, Brazil. He is a Brazilian writer whose parents were Lebanese immigrants. When he was a teenager, he moved to São Paulo. He studied Law and Philosophy at the University of São Paulo. In 1970, he wrote a book titled Um Copo de Cólera, which was published in 1978. His first book, Lavoura Arcaica, was released in 1975. Both of these books were adapted into films. In 1997, a collection of short stories titled Menina a Caminho, written during the 1960s and 1970s, was published.

Although his work was highly praised, Nassar stopped writing in 1984. He said he had lost interest in literature and wanted to work in agriculture instead. As a landowner, he focused on farming until 2011, when he gave away his entire farm to the Federal University of São Carlos. He did this with the condition that the farm would become a new university campus. He also gave away much of his property and supported local charities. After this, he moved to a small farm.

In 2016, Nassar was honored with the Camões Prize, which is the most important award for literature written in the Portuguese language.

English translations

In a review of A Cup of Rage in the British newspaper The Guardian, Nicholas Lezard described the book as "a very powerful work." He noted that although the book is short—only 47 pages—it has a strong impact, often greater than longer books. Each of the seven chapters is written as one long sentence without any breaks. Readers must pay close attention to follow along, and after finishing, they may want to read it again. The writing is dense and challenging but definitely worth the effort.