Graciliano Ramos de Oliveira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡɾasiliˈɐ̃nu ˈʁɐ̃muz dʒi oliˈvejɾɐ]) (October 27, 1892 – March 20, 1953) was a Brazilian modernist writer, politician and journalist.

His characters are complex, nuanced, and tend to have pessimistic world views, from which Ramos deals with topics such as the lust for power (the main theme in São Bernardo), misogyny (a key point in Angústia), and infidelity.

His protagonists are mostly lower-class men from northeastern Brazil, which are often aspiring writers (such as in Caetés), or illiterate country workers, all of which usually have to deal with poverty and complex social relations.

After finishing high school in Maceió, he became a collaborator of the newspaper Jornal de Alagoas in 1909, where he published a sonnet called "Céptico" under the pen name Almeida Cunha, and some other texts under many different pseudonyms.

In 1914 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, but had to return to Alagoas in September 1915, in order to live with his father, who became a salesman in the city of Palmeira dos Índios.

(Graciliano wrote an account of his time in prison named Memórias do Cárcere, published a few months after his death in 1953.)

However, it is uncertain whether the copyright will continue to be protected and according to Sonia Jardim, President of Record Group, in 2024 "there may be two editions of Vidas Secas in the market".