Zuenir Ventura

Who is Zuenir Ventura?

Zuenir Carlos Ventura is a Brazilian journalist and writer. He is a columnist for the newspaper O Globo, and for Época magazine. He won the Jabuti Prize in 1995 in the "reportage" category for the book Cidade Partida. In 2009, his book 1968 - O que Fizemos de Nós won the third place at the same category of the prize. In 1989, he and his team of journalists from Jornal do Brasil won the Esso Journalism Award for their reportage on Chico Mendes' murder investigation.

Zuenir was born in Minas Gerais and moved to Rio de Janeiro during his youth. He had to work in order to pay his superior studies. His first job was as a wall painter apprentice, with his father. He was also a janitor at a bar and a Dentures laboratory; an office-boy at a bank agency, a clerk in a shirt store, and an elementary school teacher. From this latter experience he created his will to study languages. He graduated as a teacher and taught for more than forty years at the Communication School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and at the Superior School of Design of the Rio de Janeiro State University.

His first job related to journalism was as an archivist at Tribuna da Imprensa, when he was still at university. However, he would only become a journalist when Carlos Lacerda asked to his employees if anyone would be able to write something about Albert Camus, who had recently died at the time. Zuenir offered himself and started his journalistic career.