Laurence Klinger was born in São Paulo, Brazil. At eight-years-old, he became ill and was forced to stay in bed for several months. To help him pass the time, his grandfather gave him his first typewriter - a light blue Dutch Royal - as a birthday present.
Two years later, his work began to appear in Brazilian literary newspapers and magazines. About his early work, the critic Quirino da Silva had to say, "When I read what Laurence Klinger writes, I feel that his thoughts have travelled throughout the centuries; his sensibility, sensual strength and emotional impetus have the age of the world."
In the late sixties, he began writing theater plays, and moved to London to study theater direction at the British Drama League. While in England, he wrote articles for the magazine Socialist Commentary, about Art and censorship during the military dictatorships in Latin America. The articles were also translated to Dutch and published in the magazine Der Groene, in Holland. To protect him from being arrested on his return to Brazil, all articles were published under the pseudonim Enrico Santiago.
In 1972 he returned to São Paulo and found a job writing copy for an advertising agency. What he considered a temporary occupation "until something better comes up," ended up as a life-long, and successful, career.
In 1976 his story "Mariana and Natanael" was chosen by Alfa-Omega Publishing to appear in an anthology of young Brazilian writers. The book was reviewed by Geraldo Ferraz, of Veja weekly magazine: "By far the best in the book, Mariana and Natanael reveals a writer of rare qualities."
In 1985, his work brought him to the United States, where he lived until 1995. He spent the next four years in Barcelona, Spain, and returned in 1999. Absorbed by work, family, and travel, he spent many years away from the keyboard. Still Life with Fish is his return to literary fiction, and his first book in the United States.
Laurence Klinger lives in Chicago with his wife and two of his three
children.
- Office clerks try to escape the reality of their tedious lives through the ancient art of archery.
- Two strangers trade fantasies under a fig tree in the center of the Universe.
- A prostitute is offered a small fortune to reveal her naked soul.
- Still life with fish is a book about people and their struggle to understand a world that is, at once, logical and absurd.
- A fascinating journey charged with wisdom and imagination, tragedy and humor.
- Collectively, these stories form an inspiring mural of the human condition.