Adāo Ventura (1939 – 2004) was born in Santo Antônio do Itambé, Brazil, eventually moving to Belo Horizonte and graduating from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. While at UFMG, his early poetry was featured in O Suplemento Literário do Minas Gerais [The Minas Gerais Literary Supplement], and like that of many of his contemporaries, it displayed the distinct avant garde influences so much in vogue during the era. In 1970, his first chapbook, Abrir-se um abutre ou mesmo depois de deduzir dêle o azul [Opening a Vulture or Just After Extracting the Blue], appeared to great international acclaim. Despite retaining fanciful surrealist imagery and the juxtaposition of the past, the present, and the mythological, embedded within were traces of the minority rights and racial oppression themes that would become much more openly apparent in later works as he moved on to more accessible poetic styles. In 1973, Ventura was invited to the University of New Mexico as guest lecturer. While at UNM, he asked his colleague, John Timm, to translate Abrir-se um abutre. In 1974, Ventura went on to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. At that time, he was excited to write that the university was interested in publishing the translation. However, it was recently learned that for reasons unknown this never came to pass. It is therefore most gratifying to see it find a home at last in AzonaL.