Read "We never said she was a maid," from DMQ Review in Fall 2016 (in PDF) — Nominee, Pushcart Prize 

Read "Borders," fiction from the collection Then, there (in PDF)

Read five poems, from A Child in Ruins, by José Luís Peixoto and translated by Hugo Dos Santos (in PDF)

Reduction in Force is now available wherever books are sold.

You can purchase it directly from the publisher here.

“Homecoming, translated by Hugo dos Santos (Arquipélago Press, 2024), is a collection of poetry that oscillates between different genres; it is poetry, it is travelogue, it is autobiographical creative nonfiction, it is deeply reflective philosophical inquiry.“

Read the full article here.

A huge thank you to Irene Marques for this generous review.

Reduction in Force, by Hugo dos Santos, won the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize, selected by Anthony Walton. It will be published by Bauhan Publishing.

Read the full announcement here.

The Columbus Book Festival will be back July 11-12, 2026!

The festival will feature a whole new lineup of 200+ national and Columbus-based authors, panel discussions, author talks, book signings and more!

The Festival Marketplace will brim with dozens of bookish retailers, community exhibitors, an entertainment lineup, local food court and the popular Indie Author Alley pavilion and Friends of the Library Big Book Sale tent.

As always, this event is free and open to all book lovers.

Learn more here.

Watershed Literary Events continues its eighth year of programming with a reading by award-winning poets Evie Shockley and Hugo dos Santos. The event takes place on Sunday, June 7, at 3 pm in the South Orange Skate House in Meadowland Park. Watershed is sponsored by the Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Meadowland Park Conservancy in South Orange. All readings are free and open to the public.

Poet and scholar Evie Shockley thinks, creates, and writes with her eye on a Black feminist horizon. Her recent books of poetry, all published by Wesleyan University Press, include suddenly we (2023), a National Book Award Finalist and winner of an NAACP Image Award; semiautomatic (2017), a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; and the new black (2011), also a winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy award. Her literary criticism includes Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry (University of Iowa Press, 2011) and numerous essays. Most recently, she is editor of the Norton Library edition of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Among the honors for her body of work in poetry are the Academy Fellowship for Distinguished Poetic Achievement, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and the Stephen Henderson Award. Her joys include participating in poetry communities such as Cave Canem and collaborating with artists working in various media. Shockley is the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University.

 Hugo dos Santos is the author of Reduction in Force (Bauhan Publishing, 2026), winner of the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Award, and Then, there (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), a collection of Newark stories. Born in Lisboa, Portugal, and raised in Newark, New Jersey, dos Santos, writes toward questions of diaspora, belonging, and memory. His poetry and fiction illuminate the beauty, complexity, and struggles of the immigrant experience and urban life. His translations of poetry by José Luís Peixoto include Homecoming (Arquipélago Press, 2024) and A Child in Ruins (Writ Large Press, 2016), a staff pick by The Paris Review Daily. Dos Santos was awarded a 2026 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as well as fellowships from The Edward F. Albee Foundation, MacDowell, and the Disquiet International Literary Program. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Barrelhouse, Cultural Daily, Electric Literature, Hobart, The Common, The Fanzine, and elsewhere. Hugo currently lives in Flemington.

Founded in 2019, Watershed Literary Events promotes the work of a talented and diverse array of writers with a New Jersey connection. For more information, contact Blake Smith at arts@southorange.org.

For years now we've nurtured this dream of making The Sanctuary a home to celebrate Literary achievements.

"Reduction in Force" by Hugo dos Santos is nothing short of that.

With a reading by the author, features by Ysabel Y. Gonzalez and Vincent Toro + a kick-ass open mic, we want to get this book out into the world with a party that is like "Reduction in Force": a kaleidoscopic analysis of labor in the center of the empire and, somehow, a life-affirming collection for these dark times.

Through the subject of work, or its sudden loss, Hugo skillfully peels back layers of dehumanization to reveal the hurt and hope beneath the caricature that shows up on the LinkedIn profile, the interview, the performances we need to do every day to get by.

Refreshments will be served. The event is free. Support amazing writers.