During the Revolution of 30, his father was murdered for political reasons in Rio de Janeiro and the family moved to Taperoá, Paraíba, where he lived from 1933 to 1937.

The following year he staged his play O Casamento Suspeitoso in São Paulo, Cia Sérgio Cardoso, and O Santo e a Porca, in 1958, was staged his play O Homem da Vaca e o Poder da Fortuna, in 1959, A Pena e a Lei, awarded ten years after the Festival Latinoamericano de Teatro.

In 1959, along with Hermilo Borba Filho, he founded the Teatro Popular do Nordeste, which then set up A Farsa da Boa Preguiça (1960) and A Caseira e a Catarina (1962).

There, in 1976, defends the thesis Habilitation A Onça Castanha e a Ilha Brasil: Uma Reflexão sobre a Cultura Brasileira, Retires as professor in 1994.

Directly linked to culture, began in 1970 in Recife, the "Armorial Movement", interested in the development and understanding of traditional forms of popular expression.

Between 1958 and 1979, also dedicated himself to prose fiction, publishing the Romance d'A Pedra do Reino e o Príncipe do Sangue do Vai-e-Volta(1971) and História d'O Rei Degolado nas Caatingas do Sertão / Ao Sol da Onça Caetana (1976), classified by him as "armorial-popular Brazilian novel."

Ariano Suassuna built in São José do Belmonte (PE), where the ride is inspired by the Romance d'A Pedra do Reino, an outdoor sanctuary, consisting of 16 sculptures of stone, with height 3.50 m each, arranged in circle, representing the sacred and the profane.

In 2004, with the support of the ABL, the Kind Films produced a documentary entitled The Hinterland: World of Ariano Suassuna, directed by Douglas Machado and was exhibited at the Sala José de Alencar.