By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (Paraty International Literary Festival), best known simply as FLIP, returned for its twelfth edition to the city of Paraty in Rio State, on Wednesday, July 30th. The five-day-festival will continue today, Thursday, July 31st and run through Sunday, August 3rd.
FLIP annually attracts both national and international guests and attendees as it is considered by many to be one of the most important literary festivals in South America.
The festival features more than two hundreds events including; debates, workshops, art exhibitions, live concerts, and film screenings. Additional festival programming includes; FlipMais, FlipZona (for youths) and Flipinha (for children).
On opening day, the festival hosted a conference at 7PM with a lecture by art critic Agnaldo Farias and a roundtable discussion between cartoonist Jaguar, Millormaníacos, Hubert and Reinaldo. Following at 9:30 PM, famous Brazilian singer Gal Costa performed live for FLIP’s opening show.
Additional guests for this year’s festival include; American authors Michael Pollan, Andrew Solomon, David Carr, Glenn Greenwald and Elif Batuman; Israeli author Etgar Keret; Indian author Jhumpa Lahiri, Argentine author Graciela Mochkofsky, and Canadian-born and New Zealand raised author Eleanor Catton, among others.
Differing from previous festivals, this year’s Authors’ Tent, a trademark of the festival, has been replaced with a smaller pavilion that still maintains the same seating capacity of 850. Additionally the Tenda do Telão (Big Screen Tent) has been replaced by two screens, one located in the Authors’ Tent and the other near Paraty’s main church.
The festival is smaller in size overall this year due to inflation, according to Mauro Munhoz, the founder and CEO of Casa Azul, FLIP organizers. “There is an important issue: the rising prices of suppliers for events is above inflation,” Munhoz told O Globo. “The events industry has been growing and endearing in Brazil. What we do is try to raise awareness among suppliers that the FLIP is not a commercial or marketing event. It is of public interest.”
For the reminder of the festival, tickets to the Authors’ Tent are R$46 and entry is free to the FlipMais, Flipinha and FlipZona events. The Authors’ Tent will be open from 9AM to 10PM, today, Friday and Saturday and from 9AM to 6PM on Sunday. The Casa da Cultura will be open from 9AM to 10PM through Saturday and closed on Sunday.
For more information about the ongoing festival, the full schedule of events and their locations, see the FLIP website here.
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