B.A.s in Journalism and Spanish Language and Literature, University of Texas, Austin, 1998
M.A. in Latin American Studies and Master’s in Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, 2002
Juliana Barbassa is an award-winning journalist and a nonfiction author and editor.
Born in Brazil, she has lived in nine countries across the Americas, the Middle East, and Europe, and traveled extensively. Over the course of her career, she has worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press, as a managing editor for the magazine Americas Quarterly, and later, at The New York Times, as Latin America editor and deputy editor of The Book Review.
Her nonfiction publications include Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro on the Brink (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster), based on her years covering Brazil (one of The Boston Globe’s and NPR staff’s “best books of 2015”).
A life-long love of reading and of playing with language – along with a belief in literature’s ability to foster connection across borders, so essential nowadays – have also led her to literary translation. Upcoming publications as a translator of Brazilian literature include The Jaguar’s Roar, a novel by Micheliny Verunschk (W.W. Norton, 2025), and short stories by Marina Colasanti, Mário de Andrade, and Rubem Braga in anthologies from New Vessel Press and Penguin.
She joined JCU in 2025 and teaches feature writing.
