ABOUT ME

I'm a Brazilian-Canadian writer, editor, and educator with special interests in Norse mythology, medieval literature, Marxist studies, Buddhist ideologies, and werewolves. My favourite genres are fantasy and tragedy, as well as historical, gothic, and experimental fiction.

And yes, that is the front porch of a medieval house.

Summary of my Story:

My parents named me Alexandre V Affonso, but I've been called many names—Alex, Xandy, Tampa, and that guy. I was born at the turn of the century, on the fourtheenth day of the third month, and raised in the valleys of Rio de Janeiro, in the imperial city of Petropolis. Seven years later, my family went on a year-long trip to the scalding deserts of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Seven years after that, in 2014, we moved to the frozen fields of Canada—to be specific, to the obscure island of Anne of Green Gables. Then I sailed (took a ferry, really) to Halifax to study English and Creative Writing at Dalhousie University. Now I'm in Montreal, where I survived the MA in the same subjects at Concordia University and started working as a grade 12 English teacher at Kells Academy.

My Long Literary Life:

The first word I ever read, written on a chalkboard of the Centro Educacional Corrêas, was "macaco." It means "monkey" in Portuguese. After that, I was invincible. I could read any word the teacher threw at me. And if I could read, that meant I could write. Monkey see, monkey do, right?

The first book I read was The Lord of the Rings—the whole trilogy. The first one that counted, at least. Before that, I remember reading Vamos Salvar a Baleia! (translates to Let's Save the Whale!), the Portuguese translation of a children's book by an Austrian writer. There were five pages left when I called it quits. I still don't know whether they saved the whale. They probably did.

I decided to become a writer in high school (around 2016). Before that, I wanted to be a forensic scientist—mostly because of the TV show Dexter. Before that, I wanted to be a doctor—mostly because of the money. Before that, I wanted to be a superhero—who didn't? I made the questionable decision to follow a career in writing because, well, I love creating stories.

In 2017, while I was still in high school, one of my first short stories, "Writer vs Magician," was shortlisted at the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty's Creative Writing Awards for Young People, a subsidiary of the Cox & Palmer Island Literary Awards. I think the judges liked the concept of my story, but not the writing. I cringe when I read it.

In 2018, I enrolled at Dalhousie University; in 2022, I graduated with a BA (Hons) in English and Creative Writing and a minor in Film Studies.

In my first year (2018-2019), I published an academic essay ["Class Norms"] in the magazine Film Matters—my first publication!

The next year (2019-2020), my short story "To Roam Forever" was published in Fathom, Dal's creative writing journal—where I also volunteered as an editor.

One year later (2020-2021), I published a poem, an article, and a personal essay on The Dalhousie Gazette (North America's oldest campus newspaper, according to them), an academic essay ["Realism and Immersion"] on Dal's Cinema and Media Studies blog, and a poem and a short story ["Sonnet 18 000" & "Us vs Them?"] in Fathom—where I once again volunteered as an editor.

My last year (2021-2022) was a busy one. I published a personal essay/advice piece and an article on The Dalhousie Gazette, as well as a poem, short story, and personal essay ["Thief of Love" & "The Height of Monarchy" & "Alex and I"] in Fathom. I also tutored for the Studying for Success Tutoring Program and the Student Accessibility Centre, volunteered as an editor for Fathom and Contemporary Kanata, worked on an info-booth for the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, and co-hosted one of the Double-Dates: A Reading Series of Writing Couples for the English department's Creative Writing Program. And I was one of five students (only international one) to present their paper on the English department's Honours Colloquium of 2021. The thesis I wrote ["On Beauty and Communism"] was published by the English department in Intersections and Interruptions, a collection of that year's honours essays.

In 2022, I moved to Montreal to pursue an MA in English and Creative Writing at Concordia University (with a focus on prose); in 2024, I graduated from the program and, for the first time in my life since kindergarten, I was no longer a student.

During my first year at Concordia (2022-2023), I was the creative nonfiction editor for issue #24 of Headlight Anthology (which won the Forces AVENIR Arts, lettres et culture award), a TA for an introductory English course (British Literature to 1660), a freelance editor for The Urban Writers, and a private writing tutor. I also presented my academic work at the 2023 SAGE Colloquium (The New (Ab)Normal) and published a short story ["Sleep Baby"] in vol. 3.1 of yolk, then read an excerpt from it at their launch in the summer of 2023. That summer I also worked as a TA again, but this time for a creative writing class (The Creative Process).

In my second year (2023-2024), I was "promoted" to (or compelled to take on) the managing editor position for issue #25 of Headlight, worked as TA once again for the same course (Brit. Lit. to 1660), helped plan and organize the 2024 SAGE Colloquium (Dividing Lines) & creative writing contest, and continued to work as a freelance tutor and editor. That year I presented my creative work at the SAGE Colloquium—I read "Sleep Baby," but this time the whole story—and published a poem ["This Ambulant Metamorphosis"] in LBRNTH, then, once again, read it at their launch in the summer of 2024.

I'm currently a grade 12 English teacher at Kells Academy and a freelance tutor and editor, same as before. Recently, I started working as a Connect Live expert at Studiosity (basically as an English tutor) and an AI reviewer for Outlier.