José Maria Ferreira de Castro (24 May 1898 – 29 June 1974) was a Portuguese writer and journalist. Ferreira de Castro had a long career in journalism, and considered his fiction writing to be an extension of his documentary reporting; in that regard, he is considered to be one of the fathers of contemporary Portuguese social-realist (or neorealist) fiction, a forerunner of socially-committed literature about the rural and working classes later further established by Alves Redol, and more than once a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ferreira de Castro was part of the group of noted public intellectuals that were oppositionists to the authoritarian Estado Novo regime; despite his participation in almost every pacific action directed against the regime, his national and international recognition as an acclaimed novelist meant he was never a victim of excessively violent repression, such as prison, torture or loss of political rights. Life The eldest son of José Eustáquio Ferreira de Castro, a poor peasant, and Maria Rosa Soares de Castro; he lost his father at the age of 8 and decided, at 12 years old, to emigrate with the intention of supporting his family. On January 7, 1911, he embarked on the steamship Jerôme bound for Belém do Pará, in Brazil. There, he would publish his first novel, Criminoso por Ambição, in 1916. Later, for four years, he lived in the rubber plantation of Paraíso, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, on the banks of the Madeira River. After leaving Paraíso, he lived in precarious conditions, having to resort to jobs such as pasting posters, or as a deckhand on Amazonian ships. Later, in Portugal, he was editor of the newspaper O Século, director of the newspaper O Diabo and contributor to the magazines O Domingo Ilustrado (1925-1927), Renovação (1925-1926), and Ilustração (started in 1926). While working for O Século he penned vibrant chronicles, such as his purposeful arrest in Limoeiro Jail to witness the lives of prisoners in Portuguese prisons, or his exclusive Dublin interview of Éamon de Valera, leader of Sinn Fein, in 1930. In 1930, he published A Selva, the work that earned him recognition on an international level, including his nomination to the Nobel Prize in Literature. The book receives positive reviews in The New York Times, introduces him to Hollywood and allows him to join the French Pen Club. At that time, he tragically lost his