Sep 06–13, 2006

Readings of contemporary Brazilian literature

Brazilian literature is synonymous with diversity. There are no such things as homogeneous literary periods in any case, but the extremely diversified phase of the past twenty-five years is unique - even by Brazilian standards. For Brazil has, after all, a number of literary modernities.

The reader can go for the revivals of old avant-garde techniques, follow the trails of poetic prose that were opened up in the late 1960s, or submerge himself in urban life under the shadows of violence. He will find crime thrillers, fantasy stories, hybrid forms that have arisen in dialogue with TV and the Internet, as well as new varieties of the historical or socially critical novel. The same applies to lyric poetry, with a spectrum ranging from the reinvention of modernistic language to the “nobler” style of earlier generations, to flirting with video clips. The difference between high and mass-produced literature no longer applies. What counts is finesse: the way the styles are allowed to overlap; the beauty of simplicity, as when a footballer dribbles past his opponent.

Four important contemporary Brazilian authors - Paulo Henriques Britto, Adriana Lunardi, Luiz Ruffato and Ricardo Azevedo - whose names stand for all this will introduce themselves at the international literature festival .


An event held by the international literature festival berlin as part of the project "Copa da Cultura – Brazil and Germany 2006" in co-operation with the House of World Cultures and the Ministério da Cultura do Brasil.


In June 2006, the anthology "Anpfiff aus Brasilien - Elf auf dem Feld" , edited by Flávio Moreiro da Costa and published by Teo Ferrer de Mesquita (Frankfurt/M.) went on sale. It contains football stories by renowned Brazilian authors. The House of World Cultures is involved, as a co-operation partner, in its publication.