Natalia Timerman, psychiatrist and one of the most celebrated contemporary Brazilian authors, age 45, launched her most recent book, "Before It Erases," with Companhia das Letras. The work features a narrator who faces the challenge of living with her own mother Alice's Alzheimer's, and the consequent erasure of her memories. With six published books, Natalia also maintains a practice in São Paulo, where she works as a psychiatrist, in addition to swimming, having children, and a partner.
Natalia's relationship with writing is described by her as "a curse," because, according to the author, she cannot stop doing it, but this distances her from the people she loves and disrupts her routine. She states that it is in literature where she feels most "herself," even while recognizing that the stories written by her delve into dense themes, sometimes connected to personal experiences.
After publishing "The Small Chances" (Todavia, 2023), based on grief over her father, Natalia now faces another painful theme by addressing her mother's Alzheimer's in her new book. The author acknowledges that "Before It Erases" is a book made with great anguish, delving deeper into family issues and the progressive loss of memory faced by her character and, possibly, by her own family.
