Gonçalo M. Tavares has published books in a wide range of literary genres since 2001. His work has been translated in more than 75 countries around the world.

He recently received the prestigious Formentor Prize, widely regarded as one of the major international literary awards and often considered a precursor to the Nobel Prize. Recent recipients include László Krasznahorkai and Annie Ernaux, while previous laureates include Pascal Quignard, Saul Bellow and Witold Gombrowicz. The first winners of the prize were Jorge Luis Borges and Samuel Beckett.

Recently, in 2025, the epic The End of the United States of America was described as “a work of genius” and named Book of the Year by several publications.

Le Quartier (The Neighbourhood) was awarded the prestigious Prix Laure-Bataillon 2021 for the best translated book published in France, succeeding Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, who received the award in 2019. Also in 2021, O Osso do Meio received Brazil's Oceanos Prize.

Twenty-two of his books have received literary awards in different countries.

He has been shortlisted six times for Brazil's Oceanos Prize, winning it on three occasions. He has also twice been shortlisted for the Prix Médicis and twice for the Prix Femina, among many other major distinctions.

For Learning to Pray in the Age of Technique, he received the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2010 (France), an award previously presented to writers such as Robert Musil, Orhan Pamuk, John Updike, Philip Roth, Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie and Elias Canetti.

Other international distinctions include the Portugal Telecom Prize (Brazil, 2007 and 2011), the Premio Internazionale Trieste (Italy, 2008), the Belgrade Prize (Serbia, 2009), the Grand Prix Littéraire – Culture (France, 2010), the Prix Littéraire Européen (France, 2011), and the Margarita Michelena Prize for Best Translation (Mexico, 2019) for A Girl Is Lost in Her Century Looking for Her Father.

His books have inspired theatrical productions, dance performances, radio plays, short films, visual arts projects, video art, opera, performance art, architectural projects, academic theses, and many other artistic works in different countries.