Bernardo P. Carvalho was born in Lisbon in 1973 and studied communication design at the local art school. He is co-founder of the children’s book publisher Planeta Tangerina, which was launched in 1999 and for which he has worked ever since.
The publisher released the book »Daqui ninguém passa« (2014; Eng. »Don’t Cross the Line!«, 2016), written by Isabel Minhós Martins and illustrated by him, in which the fold between the double pages functions as a border that no one is allowed to cross. A strict general watches over the line. But the larger the colourful, wild crowd of people, animals, and other figures on the left-hand side becomes – 62 in all, including a ghost – the more difficult it is to maintain the strict division. Dealing with authority is negotiated in a humorous way, and the meaning and purpose of boundaries is questioned; in this, the book also unfolds a political dimension. »The conceptual idea of this stringently structured picture book is realized with simple pictorial means. The felt-tip pen drawings give it an aesthetic that is out of the ordinary«, stated the jury’s statement for the German Youth Literature Award 2017, with which the German translation was awarded in the children’s book category. As a »convincing contribution to a non-violent form of conflict resolution«, according to the Minister of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, it also received the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize 2017. The book »Lá fora« (2014; Eng. »Outside«, 2016), written by Inês Teixeira do Rosário and Maria Ana Peixe Dias and illustrated by Bernardo P. Carvalho, was also published in German in 2019. The book invites readers to discover flora and fauna, whether in the city or in the countryside. Supplemented by suggestions for playful exploration, it depicts diverse landscapes and habitats such as mountains, meadows, and the sea. The book has been translated into numerous languages, won the Bologna Ragazzi Award in 2015, which is presented annually at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair, and was nominated for the German Youth Literature Award 2020 in the nonfiction category. The selection committee stated that »The content-oriented layout perfectly brings together the superbly worded, reader-friendly text with the delicate illustrations: Drawings, some of which look like they were done in watercolor, others like sketches or silhouettes. The only contrasting colors in the book are orange and turquoise blue.«