Rui Couceiro was born in Porto in 1984. He worked in the publishing industry for two decades, first at Porto Editora and later as an editor at Bertrand, where he created and led the Contraponto imprint for ten years.

He is currently the curator of BABELL, promoted by the Livraria Lello Foundation, with the support of Porto City Council. The event has brought to Portugal authors such as Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Olga Tokarczuk, László Krasznahorkai, Julian Barnes, Byung-Chul Han, Héctor Abad Faciolince and Javier Cercas, who spoke before audiences of thousands. BABELL has received high praise from the international press: “El nuevo festival BABELL convierte Oporto en la capital mundial de la literatura”, El Mundo; “Oporto se convierte en la capital europea de la literatura”, ABC; “Porto: Europe’s new book capital?”, France 24.

He is a member of the Cultural Council of the Eça de Queiroz Foundation and contributes to Visão magazine.

As an author, he published Baiôa sem Data para Morrer, which received the Manuel de Boaventura Literary Prize and was shortlisted for the Portuguese PEN Club Prize; Morro da Pena Ventosa, which was similarly acclaimed by readers and critics; and, in 2026, A Mais Bela Maldição, a collection of true stories about people passionate about books.