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João Ricardo Lopes (born June 21, 1977, in Azurém, Guimarães) is a contemporary Portuguese poet and writer. He studied at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, where he earned his degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (Portuguese Studies) in 1999. In 2011, he completed a postgraduate program in Literary Theory at the Institute of Languages and Human Sciences, University of Minho.
He teaches Portuguese and Portuguese Literature at both primary and secondary education levels. He has also taught the course in Children’s and Young Adult Literature at the School of Education of Porto and at the Institute of Higher Studies in Fafe. His contributions extend to the press and to numerous literary magazines and anthologies.
Lopes published his first book in 2001, A Pedra Que Chora Como Palavras (The Stone Weeping Wordlike), which won the Ary dos Santos Poetry Revelation Prize, awarded by the Portuguese Writers’ Association and the Municipality of Grândola. That same year, he was also awarded the National Poetry Prize of Vila de Fânzeres for his collection of poems Além do Dia Hoje (Beyond the Day That Is).
In 2011, in collaboration with Bernarda Esteves, he published Reflexões à Boca de Cena / Onstage Reflections, a collection of bilingual poems inspired by the dual space of theatre and life. This book earned him significant national and international recognition among his peers.
His literary work focuses primarily on poetry, with seven poetry collections to his name. However, he has also published a book of personal proses pieces (chronicles) Dos Maus e Bons Pecados (On Sins, Both Good and Bad, 2007) and a collection of short stories, O Moscardo e Outras Histórias (The Horsefly and Other Stories, 2018).
In 2009, he was awarded the Maria Irene Lisboa Short Story Prize. In 2022, he once again won the National Poetry Prize of Vila de Fânzeres for his collection Em Nome da Luz (In the Name of Light).
His work has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Serbo-Croatian, and Armenian.
