Pedro Bandeira

Pedro Bandeira de Luna Filho (born March 9, 1942) is a Brazilian award-winning and best-selling children's novelist and poet, best known as the author of the Os Karas series of mystery novels.

Bandeira was born in Santos, São Paulo, on March 9, 1942. He began as an amateur theater actor and scenic painter until moving to São Paulo in 1961, where he graduated in Advertising at USP. He then found a job as a freelance copywriter for the newspaper Última Hora, until he was hired by Editora Abril in 1972 to write for children. His stories were initially published in specialized magazines until O Dinossauro que Fazia "Au-Au" came out as a stand-alone book in 1983. It was critically and commercially successful, what influenced Bandeira to dedicate himself solely to children's literature.

1984 saw the release of A Droga da Obediência, the first installment of the Os Karas series; as of 2012 it has sold over 1.6 million copies. In 1986 O Fantástico Mistério de Feiurinha was awarded the Prêmio Jabuti, and a film adaptation of the book, directed by Tizuka Yamasaki and starring Xuxa Meneghel, was released in 2009. A Marca de uma Lágrima, which was published in 1985 and is a loose adaptation of Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, won the APCA Award in 1986.

As of 2012 Bandeira's books (over 80) have sold over 23 million copies. The sixth (and, according to Bandeira, last) installment of the Os Karas series, A Droga da Amizade, came out in 2014.

He currently lives in São Roque with his wife Lia and three children.