Luis Fernando Verissimo

Luís Fernando Verissimo (September 26, 1936 – August 30, 2025) was a Brazilian writer. Verissimo was the son of Brazilian writer Érico Verissimo and lived with his father in the United States during his childhood. Best known for his crônicas and texts of humor, more precisely satire of manners, published daily in several Brazilian newspapers, Verissimo was also a cartoonist, translator, and television writer, playwright and novelist. He has also been advertising and newspaper copy desk. He was also a musician, having played saxophone in a few sets. With over 60 published titles, he was one of the most popular contemporary Brazilian writers.

Background

Verissimo was a great fan of jazz, and played saxophone since 1995 in a band called Jazz 6, "the smallest sextet in the world", with five members.

Verissimo was fond of football, and a famous Sport Club Internacional supporter. He wrote widely about football throughout his work.

Verissimo married Lúcia Helena Massa in 1964, and the couple had three children: Fernanda, journalist, Mariana, writer, and Pedro, musician. He lived with his wife in Porto Alegre.

Born on September 26, 1936, and raised in Porto Alegre, Luis Fernando lived most of his childhood and adolescence in the United States with his family, due to professional commitments undertaken by his father – a professor at UC Berkeley (1943–1945) and cultural director at the Organization of American States in Washington (1953–1956). As a result, he attended primary part of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and completed high school at Roosevelt High School in Washington.

At 14, he produced with his sister, Clarissa, a periodical paper about his family hung in their bathroom; the work was called The Patentino ("patente" is the way toilets are known in Rio Grande do Sul).