Collective in DF promotes literature by black authors

On the last day of the 17th edition of the Latinidades Festival in the federal capital, black female writers from Brasília met at the National Museum of the Republic, in the central region of the federal capital, to hold a soiree where they read poems and prose texts.

The meeting has been held periodically for four years and is organized by the collective Julho das Pretas que Escrevem no DF. The name of the group is a direct reference to the Month of the Latin American Black Woman. The purpose of the collective is to encourage women to write and publish their books.

July Meeting of Black Women who Write in the Federal District. Photo: Valter Campanato/Agency Brazil

“We don’t want to keep our books in the drawer,” says writer and journalist Waleska Barbosa, creator of the collective.

Black women are the largest population group in Brazil: 60.6 million people, of which 11.30 million are black women and 49.3 million are brown women – 28.3% of the population, according to the 2022 Census (IBGE).

Waleska Barbosa, creator of the collective that promotes black female writers in the Federal District. Photo: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil

Despite this, and the contribution of black women to various elements of Brazilian culture, their participation and recognition in literature is minimal, Waleska recalls. Only three authors tend to be remembered more: the pioneer Maria Firmina dos Reis, with the novel Ursula (1859); Carolina Maria de Jesus, author of Dump Room: diary of a slum dweller (1960); and Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito, who only began publishing in 2003, with the novel Ponciá Vicencio.

“Conceição Evaristo published a book that has been in the drawer for over 20 years. So, I always say that this meeting of black women who write in the Federal District is so that we don’t spend so much time without publishing and without talking,” emphasizes Waleska Barbosa.

According to the author, the void of female and black writing in Brazilian literature was filled by white men, which in some cases resulted in the creation of caricatured characters: “the maid, the hottie, the hypersexualized person, subordinate and ridiculed characters.” These types feed on prejudices and feed prejudices. The caricature of books written by white men “will be in films and on TV.”

To dispel literary prejudices and promote more black female authors, the collective Julho das Pretas que Escrevem no DF pays tribute to local authors of different generations. This year, the following writers were celebrated: Adelaide Paula, Ailin Talibah, Conceição Freitas, Elisa Matos, Norma Hamilton and the sisters Giovana Teodoro and Lourdes Teodoro.