Rio International Book Biennial Opens, Honoring Cartoonist Maurício de Sousa

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Encouraging reading to improve the quality of life in Brazil — this is the objective of the 19th International Book Biennal of Rio de Janeiro, which opened yesterday, August 30th, at Riocentro, in Barra da Tijuca.

Right at the entrance, at the “Pavilhão das Artes”, a 210 square meter panel with Mauricio de Sousa’s iconic comic characters paid tribute to the 60th birthday of the cartoonist, who is a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters of São Paulo.

In Maurício de Sousa’s opinion, the comic book is the gateway to the process of training readers. He hopes that Brazilian citizens can be encouraged to read more and more.

The president of the National Union of Book Publishers (SNEL), promoter of the event with “GL exhibitions”, Marcos da Veiga Pereira, highlighted that Mauricio de Sousa “is directly associated with the history of the Biennial, and is always present at the event.” Pereira affirmed that the panel honoring the cartoonist “magnifies and gives a new light to the event. The fact that we are inaugurating the Biennial with Mauricio de Sousa will be our good omen, and it will bring a lot of luck.”

The president of SNEL spoke about the importance of reading and education in times of crisis and social inequality.

Training

In the opinion of Brazilian writer Ana Maria Machado, Brazil still suffers from the fact that the training of teachers does not value much the interaction with literature. “The teachers, when they read during their training, read technical books. So, they feel insecure when dealing with literature. I think that an incentive for teachers and readers will be reflected in the students,” she said.

Fair

Considered the largest literary festival in Brazil, the Biennial will last until September 8th. More than 300 Brazilian and foreign authors participate in this year’s edition of the Rio Book Biennial, which will have around 5.5 million books on sale by different publishers.

On the first day of the fair, one of the highlights for the children was the workshop organized by the Dorina Nowill Foundation, in the “Pavilhão Laranja”, with games from the “Brincar sem Fronteiras” (Play without Borders) project. The entity is dedicated to the social inclusion of people with visual impairment.