His second novel, Dois Irmãos ("Two Brothers"), won another Jabuti in 2000 and was translated into twelve languages and adapted for television, theater and comics.

His third novel Cinzas do Norte ("Ashes of the Amazon") won the Jabuti in 2005, as well as the Portugal Telecom Prize for Literature, Bravo!

[5] Over 200,000 copies of his books have been sold in Brazil, and they have been translated in several languages including Italian, English, French, Spanish, Danish, Czech, and Arabic.

In two of his books, Dois Irmãos and Cinzas do Norte, Milton Hatoum made a subtle criticism of the Brazilian military regime of 1964–1985.

After concluding his studies, Hatoum returned to Manaus, where he taught French language and literature at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas.