Writers@Grinnell: Longing and belonging in Bruna Dantas Lobato’s debut novel, “Blue Light Hours”

Bruna Dantas Lobato poses for a portrait in her office on Oct. 30, 2024. As part of October’s lineup for Writers@Grinnell (W@G), assistant professor of English Bruna Dantas Lobato read from the first two chapters of her debut novel, “Blue Light Hours” to an audience of students and staff in the Joe Rosenfield `25 Center. “I would never be able to finish telling my mother what I saw,” said the protagonist, reflecting on her first weeks at college. “I would need as much time for telling as I would need for living.” “Do you promise me?” asked the protagonist’s mother in another scene. “Do you promise me you’ll come back in one piece?” “Blue Light Hours” depicts a young Brazilian woman’s first year away from home, and her mother, to attend a small college in Vermont — a setting not unlike Grinnell’s. Over the blue light of the computer screen, between the sunny skies of Brazil and the wintery expanse of the American northeast, mother and daughter Skype about their new daily lives. Lobato said the story pits the hopes and dreams of a new future in America with the grief enmeshed with leaving loved ones — and a part of oneself — behind. It is a story inspired by Lobato’s own life. Lobato, who only just came to Grinnell this past July, has lived in the U.S. for 13 years. She studied literature at Bennington College and obtained Masters in Fine Arts in literary translation and creative writing from the University of Iowa and New York University, respectively. However, growing up in a single-parent household in the coastal city of Natal, northeast Brazil — a region with high illiteracy rates — Lobato never imagined she would ever learn English or attend college, let alone have a career in writing, translation and teaching. In high school, she worked at a five-star hotel, and aimed to become the manager. Motivated to learn English to better serve tourists, Lobato was accepted to the Youth Ambassadors Program in Washington, D.C. — an experience that sparked her desire to study abroad. A semester […]

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