Vidigal Hosts Free Literary Event Tonight in Rio de Janeiro

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Monday, July 31st, the headquarters of “Nós do Morro” theater company, in the favela community of Vidigal, hosts “Flip:Flup – O Encontro das Festas Literárias” (Flip:Flup – The Literary Parties’ Encounter), at 6:30 PM.

Bringing together international writers who participated in Paraty’s International Literary Festival (FLIP) last week and local artists from Rio’s communities, the event aims to bring up the latest social discussions through a literary point of view.

Following the opening ceremony at 6:30 PM, the panel discussion “A África que Trago Comigo” (The Africa I carry with me) will bring Angolan writers José Eduardo Agualusa and Luaty Beirão, and Rwandan novelist Scholastique Mukasonga, who will talk about identities, memory, culture and colonialism.

Mediated by Athayde Motta, Brazilian director of NGO “Fundo Baobá”, which focuses in racial equality, the first panel discussion brings a respectable team of writers, like Agualusa, who won this years’ International Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007.

Beirão, rapper and activist who got arrested in 2015 for reading a book considered “subversive” in Angola, is known for his hunger strikes while in prison. Scholastique Mukasonga is one of the only survivors of her family from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

At 8:30 PM, the panel “Variações Sobre um Velho Tema” (Variations on an old theme) invites writers Joana Gorjão Henriques (Portugal), Paul Beatty (United States) and Brazilian anthropologist Julio de Tavares to debate race issues, the African diaspora and colonialism.

Focused in ethnic-racial relations and human rights, Henriques is the author of “Racismo em português: o lado esquecido do colonialismo” (Racism in Portuguese: the forgotten side of colonialism), while Tavares’ researches concentrate in the African diaspora in South America, the representation of black people in the media, among other correlated themes.

Afro American poet and novelist Paul Beatty is known for “The Sellout”, literary work on US racial politics that granted him the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize, both in 2016. It was the first time that an American writer won the Man Booker Prize, a traditional English award.

Closing the event will be a poetry recital session at 10PM, which will take place at Bar Ganjah. Until 11PM, poets from all over Rio are welcome to go up on the stage to present their works to the audience.

“Flip:Flup – O Encontro das Festas Literárias” is organized by Feira Literária das Periferias (Literary Festival of the Peripheries – FLUP). Created in 2012, FLUP aims to stimulate the reading culture, democratize the access to literature in underprivileged areas and promote unknown authors from the peripheries. In 2016, the project was granted with the Excellence Award by the London Book Fair.

What: “Flip:Flup – O Encontro das Festas Literárias” (Flip:Flup – The Literary Parties’ Encounter)
When: this Monday, July 31st – 6:30 PM
Where: Panel Discussions: Casarão Grupo Nós do Morro – Rua. Dr. Olinto de Magalhães, 54 – Vidigal
Poetry Recital: Bar Ganjah – Rua Dr. Olinto de Magalhães, 44A – Vidigal
Entrance: FREE

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