Ana Maria Gonçalves becomes first Black woman in Brazil's literary academy
Ana Maria Gonçalves, 54, is one of Brazil's most acclaimed contemporary authors, and her election on Thursday is being widely celebrated by writers, activists, literary scholars and president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Her most famous work, Um defeito de cor (A Colour Defect) is still untranslated into English. It is a 950-page historical novel that she describes as 'the history of Brazil told from the point of view of a Black woman'.
Recently selected as the greatest work of Brazilian literature of the 21st century so far by the newspaper Folha de S Paulo, the book achieved the rare combination of both critical and popular success, with more than 180,000 copies sold since its release in 2006.
Celebrating Gonçalves's victory, Lula wrote that the book was his 'companion' during his 580 days in prison, 'and I always make a point of recommending it to everyone.'
Now, the author hopes that her election to the 128-year-old academy – whose primary mission is the preservation of the Portuguese language and Brazilian literature – may help correct what she sees as a longstanding historical injustice.
'I'm the first Black woman, but I can't be the only one,' said Gonçalves, who will be just the sixth woman among the 40 members, or 'immortals', as they refer to themselves. Apart from two Black men and the first and only Indigenous writer to join the institution, all the others are white men.
'I can't carry the weight of representing an entire population that continues to be marginalised and that is itself incredibly diverse,' she said.
The academy had as its first president a Black man, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, widely considered the greatest Brazilian writer of all time. Despite still being known as the House of Machado de Assis, the academy has since had only a handful of other Black men as members – something many see as a stark illustration of how racism operates in a country where more than half the population is of African descent.
Poet and translator Stephanie Borges, 40, believes Gonçalves's election will encourage more Black women to become readers and writers. 'When it's us telling our own stories, we invite those who look like us to come closer to literature,' she said.
Cidinha da Silva, 58, author of more than 20 books, is keen to stress that Gonçalves was not elected because she is Black, but 'because she is one of the greatest living writers in Brazil'.
There were 13 candidates in the running, and of the 31 members who voted in Thursday's election, 30 chose Gonçalves – the remaining vote went to Eliane Potiguara, 74, who had hoped to become the first Indigenous woman to join the academy.
Gonçalves had to run a sort of 'campaign' – though she emphasises she never asked for votes – in which she sent a copy of her book and a personal letter to each member, and phoned some of them to discuss her work.
In 2018, another celebrated Black writer, Conceição Evaristo, 78, also stood for election, but received just one vote.
'The academy does need more women, more Black people, Indigenous people, and people from other parts of Brazil,' said Gonçalves. 'And I hope that now, from the inside, I can help make that happen.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Animals keep evolving into anteaters. Could this be the future of humanity?
Who doesn't love an anteater? I mean, apart from ants, obviously. With their long snouts and even longer sticky tongues, they trundle around, slurping up insects like milkshakes. They have handsome, bushy tails, which they wrap around themselves at night like a blanket. And they're excellent parents. Giant anteater mothers allow their young to cling to their backs, rucksack-style, for periods of up to a year. Indeed, the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí was so taken with the giant anteater that he once took one for a walk through the streets of Paris. And before you ask, no, this wasn't a cheese dream. There is photographic evidence. As if that weren't enough, a recent study published in the journal Evolution has found that mammals have evolved into anteaters not once, not twice, but 12 times since the demise of the dinosaurs some 66m years ago. Anteaters, it seems, are a recurring trend. The finding prompted the study's lead author, Thomas Vida from the University of Bonn, to tell Science magazine: 'Things keep evolving into anteaters, somehow.' Which raises the question: will humans one day follow suit? By 'things', Vida means mammals, and by 'anteaters' he includes the four species of anteater from Central and South America, the pangolins and aardvarks of Africa and Asia, and the echidnas of Australia. Different animals, on different continents, that all practise myrmecophagy, also known as the consumption of termites and ants. If you were a parent of young children, you'd call them fussy eaters. If you were an evolutionary biologist, however, you'd point out that they're not being deliberately difficult. Instead, they have evolved to fill a very particular ecological niche. That niche is provided by the world's extensive population of ants and termites, some 15,000 species, whose collective biomass is more than 10 times greater than that of all wild mammals. At least a dozen times in evolutionary history, mammals decided that if you can't beat them, eat them, and began to consume the crunchy delicacy. Such an abundant food source can act as what biologists call a 'selective pressure'. Characteristics that enabled animals to eat more ants and termites – and thus survive better – are more likely to be passed on. Over millions of years, animals from all three major groups of mammal life, including marsupials and the egg-laying monotremes, evolved to have long, sticky tongues, reduced or missing teeth and strong forelimbs for busting into insect nests. It's a powerful example of convergent evolution, the phenomenon by which different species, in different places or times, independently evolve similar characteristics. Faced with the same problem – how do I eat these ants? – they all arrived at a similar solution. So, though they're not closely related, they possess features that are superficially similar. Convergent evolution is how echolocation (the ability to determine the location of objects using reflected sound) evolved separately in bats and dolphins, camera-like eyes evolved in octopuses and vertebrates, and opposable digits evolved in primates, koalas and chameleons. Powered flight has evolved independently at least four times – in birds, bats, pterosaurs and insects – and venom production more than 100 times, while crustaceans have evolved the classic, crab-like body plan at least five times. Known as carcinisation, it has spawned crabby memes aplenty. The evolutionary biologist Simon Conway Morris has used convergent evolution to argue that evolution is both deterministic and predictable. Rewind the tape of life, play it over again and similar-looking lifeforms would evolve, he says. This means that in theory, with enough time (many tens of millions of years), the appearance and retention of the requisite genetic mutations and, critically, the same selective pressures that shaped the emergence of former ant-eating animals, some mammals – including maybe us – could evolve gummy mouths and sticky tongues. Forget the history books, it's the cookery books that would be rewritten. Only there's a fly in the ointment. We're wrong to presume that because myrmecophagy has evolved multiple times, it is the pinnacle of some evolutionary tree. There are, after all, many more mammals that have not evolved into anteaters than have started breaking into termite mounds. The fact that convergent evolution occurs does not necessarily make it the default pathway. In addition, evolution has a way of pulling the rug. It can be predictable, but it can also be quirky and erratic. In his 1989 book, Wonderful Life, another titan of evolutionary biology, Stephen Jay Gould, argued for the importance of random events. These can be anything from lightning strikes to asteroid impacts: any unforeseen occurrence that derails the prevailing trajectory of evolution and sends it along a different path. In other words, 'sliding doors' moments that have been influencing evolution for as long as there has been life on Earth. So, just because things kept 'evolving into anteaters' in the past, doesn't mean that history will repeat itself. Which is a shame. Anteaters and aardvarks don't typically eat all of the ants or termites in a nest, but leave some behind so the colony can rebuild itself. This makes them the epitome of sustainable living. If we can't evolve into them, we can at least learn from them. Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction and Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Juventus reluctant to let Nottingham Forest and Everton target Douglas Luiz leave on loan with Italian giants seeking permanent deal
Douglas Luiz is a target for Nottingham Forest and Everton but Juventus are reluctant to let the former Aston Villa midfielder leave the club on loan. The out-of-favour midfielder is expected to be playing his football elsewhere this season after a disappointing maiden campaign in Turin. Luiz, who has been capped 18 times by Brazil, started just three league matches following his £42.4 million transfer last summer. Juve would prefer a permanent sale this summer while Forest and the Toffees have been looking at a loan deal, perhaps including an option or obligation to buy. Luiz is valued in the region of £26m and impressed in the Premier League during his five years with Aston Villa. Last month, reports claimed that Luiz failed to report for the first day of Juventus' training camp. A decision that is expected to see him punished by the Turin side. In April, he hit back at criticism he has faced after a nightmare first year. On an Instagram post, a fan replied to Luiz and questioned him on whether he had moved to Italy to post on Instagram or to play. 'I didn't come here just to post photos,' Luiz fired back. 'No one else did that, and I want things to be different. I came here with a purpose. I listened to my heart when I arrived and decided to sign. 'Now I want you to answer me: why hasn't a signing like mine played two consecutive games with this shirt? 'You can say what you want to the press later: 'Oh, Douglas is not fit.' Am I not fit? I did all the pre-season and played every game. I had just had one of the best seasons of my career, one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.' Luiz did go onto reflect on his injury issues in the lengthy reply, before he reaffirmed his commitment to Juventus. It has been a stormy year off the field for Luiz, who reportedly split from his footballer girlfriend Alisha Lehmann in May over different visions for their futures. They first began dating in 2021 before they broke up a year later and rekindled at the start of 2024. Since then, the couple had enjoyed a close relationship and both sealed a move to Italian giants Juventus during the summer window last year. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Lehmann and Luiz split some time ago and the pair are seen having different futures with Juventus, with the former expected to stay while the latter may leave. Luiz only played once during Juventus' Club World Cup campaign, which lasted four games, and that was as a second-half substitute in their first match against Emirati side Al Ain - when the Italians were already 4-0 up.
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
Animals keep evolving into anteaters. Could this be the future of humanity?
Who doesn't love an anteater? I mean, apart from ants, obviously. With their long snouts and even longer sticky tongues, they trundle around, slurping up insects like milkshakes. They have handsome, bushy tails, which they wrap around themselves at night like a blanket. And they're excellent parents. Giant anteater mothers allow their young to cling to their backs, rucksack-style, for periods of up to a year. Indeed, the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí was so taken with the giant anteater that he once took one for a walk through the streets of Paris. And before you ask, no, this wasn't a cheese dream. There is photographic evidence. As if that weren't enough, a recent study published in the journal Evolution has found that mammals have evolved into anteaters not once, not twice, but 12 times since the demise of the dinosaurs some 66m years ago. Anteaters, it seems, are a recurring trend. The finding prompted the study's lead author, Thomas Vida from the University of Bonn, to tell Science magazine: 'Things keep evolving into anteaters, somehow.' Which raises the question: will humans one day follow suit? By 'things', Vida means mammals, and by 'anteaters' he includes the four species of anteater from Central and South America, the pangolins and aardvarks of Africa and Asia, and the echidnas of Australia. Different animals, on different continents, that all practice myrmecophagy, also known as the consumption of termites and ants. If you were a parent of young children, you'd call them fussy eaters. If you were an evolutionary biologist, however, you'd point out that they're not being deliberately difficult. Instead, they have evolved to fill a very particular ecological niche. That niche is provided by the world's extensive population of ants and termites, some 15,000 species, whose collective biomass is more than 10 times greater than that of all wild mammals. At least a dozen times in evolutionary history, mammals decided that if you can't beat them, eat them, and began to consume the crunchy delicacy. Such an abundant food source can act as what biologists call a 'selective pressure'. Characteristics that enabled animals to eat more ants and termites – and thus survive better – are more likely to be passed on. Over millions of years, animals from all three major groups of mammal life, including marsupials and the egg-laying monotremes, evolved to have long, sticky tongues, reduced or missing teeth and strong forelimbs for busting into insect nests. It's a powerful example of convergent evolution, the phenomenon by which different species, in different places or times, independently evolve similar characteristics. Faced with the same problem – how do I eat these ants? – they all arrived at a similar solution. So, though they're not closely related, they possess features that are superficially similar. Convergent evolution is how echolocation (the ability to determine the location of objects using reflected sound) evolved separately in bats and dolphins, camera-like eyes evolved in octopuses and vertebrates, and opposable digits evolved in primates, koalas and chameleons. Powered flight has evolved independently at least four times – in birds, bats, pterosaurs and insects – and venom production more than 100 times, while crustaceans have evolved the classic, crab-like body plan at least five times. Known as carcinisation, it has spawned crabby memes aplenty. The evolutionary biologist Simon Conway Morris has used convergent evolution to argue that evolution is both deterministic and predictable. Rewind the tape of life, play it over again and similar-looking lifeforms would evolve, he says. This means that in theory, with enough time (many tens of millions of years), the appearance and retention of the requisite genetic mutations and, critically, the same selective pressures that shaped the emergence of former ant-eating animals, some mammals – including maybe us – could evolve gummy mouths and sticky tongues. Forget the history books, it's the cookery books that would be rewritten. Only there's a fly in the ointment. We're wrong to presume that because myrmecophagy has evolved multiple times, it is the pinnacle of some evolutionary tree. There are, after all, many more mammals that have not evolved into anteaters than have started breaking into termite mounds. The fact that convergent evolution occurs does not necessarily make it the default pathway. In addition, evolution has a way of pulling the rug. It can be predictable, but it can also be quirky and erratic. In his 1989 book, Wonderful Life, another titan of evolutionary biology, Stephen Jay Gould, argued for the importance of random events. These can be anything from lightning strikes to asteroid impacts: any unforeseen occurrence that derails the prevailing trajectory of evolution and sends it along a different path. In other words, 'sliding doors' moments that have been influencing evolution for as long as there has been life on Earth. So, just because things kept 'evolving into anteaters' in the past, doesn't mean that history will repeat itself. Which is a shame. Anteaters and aardvarks don't typically eat all of the ants or termites in a nest, but leave some behind so the colony can rebuild itself. This makes them the epitome of sustainable living. If we can't evolve into them, we can at least learn from them. Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction and Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth
