[3] João Paulo Cuenca was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1978.

In 2007, he was selected by the Hay Festival and the organisers of the Bogotá World Book Capital as one of the 39 highest profile Latin American writers under the age of 39.

"The Death of J.P. Cuenca" (2015), which was included in the first Venice Biennale College Production Lab, was his first feature film as a writer/director, premiered at the Rio and São Paulo International Film Festivals and had its European premiere at the main competition selection of the CPH:DOX in Denmark.

Apart from writing novels, Cuenca worked as a journalist and columnist for various Brazilian newspapers and magazines, among them O Globo.

An anthology of his chronicles and columns appeared in the volume A última madrugada (2012; tr: The last dawn).