By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The fourteenth annual Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (Paraty International Literary Festival), or FLIP, will open on Wednesday, June 29th in the city Paraty. Running over five days through Sunday, July 3rd, the internationally recognized literary event and cultural festival will feature lectures, panels, discussions, concerts and various cultural activities.
Founded in 2003 by British publisher, Liz Calder, the FLIP festival is known to annually attract thousands of attendees and to include guest speakers from across Brazil and around the world. Previous guests of the festival have included Neil Gailman, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo, Ariano Suassuna, Isabel Allende, Angélica Freitas, Toni Morrison and Chico Buarque, among others.
This year, guests will include Dutch author Arthur Japin, who during the festival will release his newest book, “O Homem com Asas” (A Man With Wings), a history of Santos Dumont; English writer and naturalist Helen Macdonald, author of “H is for Hawk,” a memoir about coping with loss by training a bird of prey; and Brazilians Tati Bernardi, Ramon Nunes Mello, and Caco Barcellos, among others.
Every year Flip also pays tribute to a Brazilian author or poet in order to bring attention to and help preserve Brazilian lecture, the Portuguese language and Brazilian cultural. This year the festival will honor poet, translator and literary critic Ana Cristina Cesar (1952-83).
Alongside the main Flip events there will be the free parallel festivals; FlipZona (for the youth), Flipinha (for children) and FlipMais (extra events).
All festival events will take place throughout the city of Paraty. The Authors’ Marquee will host panel discussions and ‘Casa da Cultura Câmara Torres’ will host the Flipinha, FlipMais, and FlipZona events. Additionally, there will be a large screen set up in the city center, which will stream the live events
“It is wonderful to stroll and sit and know you will only find people who love books, ” previous attendee, author, Rio-based American journalist, and RioRealblog editor Julia Michaels told The Rio Times. “The presentations are world-class, the folks are fun and the cachaça is delicious.”
Bus tickets from Rio to Paraty and back are available from the Costa Verde bus company and typically cost around R$40 each way for the four-hour trip, see the Costa Verde website for more information.
Additionally, for those who cannot make it to Paraty, it will be possible to watch the events free online.
For complete programming and additional information, see the Flip website.
What: Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty – Flip
When: June 29th – July 3rd
Where: Various location in Paraty.
Entrance: R$25 – R$50
Admission to Flipinha, FlipMais and FlipZona events is free.