Mário de Andrade

Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) was a poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian, and photographer, and one of the founding figures of Brazilian modernism. He was at the forefront of the São Paulo avant-garde for decades, and his pursuit of new forms of artistic expression was closely connected to his fascination with folklore, Brazilian identity and the rhythm and shape of everyday speech. He wrote "May Day" between 1934 and 1942, and the story was published after his death in the collection Contos novos (New Stories).