WHAT:
UCLA’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese will host a bilingual reading with 1998 Nobel Prize–winning author Jose Saramago. Saramago, whose work combines classical mythology, the history of his native Portugal and a surrealistic sensibility, will read in Portuguese from three of his best-known novels: “All The Names,� “Blindness� and “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.� Two UCLA graduate students will follow with English translations of the same text. The author of more than 30 works of prose, poetry, essays and drama, Saramago is visiting campus from April 22 to 26 as a UC Regents’ Lecturer.

WHEN:
4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24.

WHERE:
The International Room of UCLA’s Bradley International Hall. Enter the campus on Westwood Boulevard.

COST:
Admission is free, but parking is $6.

BACKGROUND:
Born to Portuguese peasants and trained as a mechanic, the 80-year-old author got into publishing as a production manager at a publishing house. Saramago eventually established a reputation as a translator and later as a journalist. The author, who now resides in Spain, was 60 before he gained international attention as a writer. His breakthrough came in 1982 with the publication of “Baltasar and Blimunda,� a novel set in 18th-century Portugal.