Grace Holleran
Lecturer in Portuguese
Spring 2026 Office hours:
M W 12-1 pm, Herter Hall 409 or by appointment
Professional Bio
Grace Holleran is a Lecturer in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies who specializes in literary translation and queer/gender studies in the Portuguese-speaking world. Prof. Holleran holds a PhD in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies & Theory from UMass Dartmouth with the dissertation “Lés instruída é mais divertida!”: translation, community, and lesbian representation in the Portuguese alternative press. This research was supported by a FLAD Portuguese Archives Grant, a travel grant from UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, and a 2024 Outstanding Graduate Research Award from UMass Dartmouth’s Office of Research and Innovation. Prof. Holleran’s current research involves tracing networks of women’s activism through international translational networks in Portugal, Brazil, and beyond.
A classically trained trumpet player with a Bachelor of Science in Music from Temple University, Prof. Holleran is interested in the intersections of musicality and cultural production and looks forward to joining the vibrant choro community of Western Massachusetts.
Prof. Holleran is a working literary translator and community interpreter (Portuguese – English) and a member of the editorial collective of Barricade: A Journal of Antifascism & Translation. Upcoming projects include translations of full-length collections by Angolan author João Melo and Brazilian poet Catarina Lins. Prior to joining the faculty at UMass Amherst, Prof. Holleran taught courses at Emory University and UMass Dartmouth.
Research Interests
Contemporary Luso-Afro-Brazilian poetry, translation of Luso-Afro-Brazilian literatures, queer/activist literary translation, gender and sexuality, alternative print culture and media, music as cultural intervention
Selected Publications
Articles
“Translation as Consciousness-Building in the Portuguese Lesbian Press (1990-2002).” Journal of Feminist Scholarship 24: Translating Transnational Feminisms, Spring 2024, https://doi.org/10.23860/jfs.2024.24.05.
“COUP: Translating Radical Literature in the Context of a New Fascism.” Textus, Culture Issue 2: Viral Transcultures: Critical Teleconnectivities on the Edges of the “New Normal,” 2021, https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.7370/101906.
Translations
Selections from O meu corpo humano by Maria do Rosário Pedreira. Showcased at the 54th Poetry International Festival, Rotterdam, 6–9 June 2024.
“T.S. Climbs Up the Hill, or Café Urbe” by Catarina Lins. Tilt 0001, 2023. Showcased at the 2023 New Orleans Poetry Festival.
“Africans” by João Melo. Brittle Paper, 2022.
The Body in Crisis by Christine Greiner, co-translation with Christopher Larkosh. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2021.
un cuerpo negro / a black body by Lubi Prates, co-translation with Chris Daniels. New York: Nueva York Poetry Press, 2020.
Courses Recently Taught
PORTUG 311: Portuguese Advanced Grammar
PORTUG 246: Intensive Intermediate Portuguese
PORTUG 357: Translation and Interpreting for Portuguese-Speaking Communities
PORTUG 390STB: Brazilian Culture Through Music
PORTUG 315: Portuguese Civilization
PORTUG 408: Brazil in Film & Fiction