Maria Clara Machado (3 April 1921, in Belo Horizonte — 30 April 2001, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

) was a Brazilian playwright, who specialized on plays for children. Daughter of writer Aníbal Machado, she studied theater in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. On her return to Brazil, she founded the acting school ''O Tablado'', in Rio de Janeiro. ''O Tablado'' was where many Brazilian actors learnt the trade and was the venue where she directed her own plays. Among those, ''Pluft o Fantasminha'' (Pluft the Little Ghost) (1955), ''A Bruxinha que Era Boa'' (The Little Witch who was Good), ''Maroquinhas Fru-Fru'', ''O Rapto das Cebolinhas'' (The Kidnapping of the Onions), ''A Menina e o Vento'' (The Girl and the Wind), ''O Cavalinho Azul'' (The Little Blue Horse), Tribobó City, and many others. Machado received a number of awards including the Prêmio Machado de Assis from the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tue ...

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Bio details
- in Portuguese 1921 births 2001 deaths People from Belo Horizonte Brazilian children's writers 20th-century Brazilian women writers Brazilian women children's writers Brazilian expatriates in France {{Brazil-lit-stub