JOÃO MELO, born in 1955 in Luanda, is an author, journalist, and communication consultant. He is a founder of the Angolan Writer's Association, and of the Angolan Academy of Literature and Social Sciences. He was professor, advertiser, member of parliament (1992-2017) and minister (2017-2019). His works include poetry, short stories, novels, articles and essays and have been published in Angola, Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Cuba, Spain, Tunisia, UK and US. In 2023, his poetry collection Take Your Knee Off Our Neck (former Portuguese title Diário do Medo) won the most valuable literary prize in Angola, DST Angola/Camões. Some of his stories and poems translated into English also appeared in Words Without Borders, Catamaran Literary Reader, Chicago Quarterly Review, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Olongo Africa, The Shallows Tales Review, Lolwe, A Gathering Together, Iskanchi, Gávea-Brown and Brittle Paper. Currently, he lives exclusively from writing, and splits his time between Luanda, Lisbon and Washington, D.C.