Image: Brazilian Publishers
By Hannah Johnson | @hannahsjohnson
See our complete guide to Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020 here. It has our latest stories, event highlights, our free digital magazine, and more.
‘Creativity, Content, and Professionalism’
Next week during the digital edition of the 2020 Frankfurter Buchmesse, Fernanda Dantas and her team at the São Paulo-based organization Brazilian Publishers—which supports the export of Brazilian books and content by means of a partnership between the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil)—have a full schedule.In addition to appearing on a Publishing Perspectives Talk–“Promoting a Nation’s Literature Worldwide” on October 15 at 6 p.m. CEST / 1600 GMT / 5 p.m. BST / 12 p.m. noon ET–she’s organizing and promoting a series of events with Brazilian publishers and authors throughout the book fair week.
Fernanda Dantas
Dantas is international affairs manager of the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL) and manager of Brazilian Publishers. This year, she’s been accelerating international outreach efforts to make Brazilian publishers and authors visible to rights buyers—not an easy task during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that’s keeping people at home.
However, Brazilian Publishers continues to adapt its outreach strategy, incorporating digital initiatives into its approach. Made possible by partnership between the CBL and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), the organization launched a matchmaking mobile app earlier this year to facilitate rights meetings. Originally intended to help publishers make in-person meetings, Dantas added online meeting functionality to accommodate the work-from-home situation.
At the launch of the app, Dantas told Publishing Perspectives, “Because of social distancing and the cancellation of in-person events, we’ve made all efforts to quickly adapt our scope of our work and started promoting virtual business meetings, ensuring the presence of Brazilian publishers in online events organized by fairs that couldn’t happen in physical places.”
This adaptive approach is being carried over into Brazilian Publishers’ presence during the Frankfurter Buchmesse this year, which includes a full program of webinars, promotional support for Brazilian authors taking part in this year’s BookFest—Frankfurt’s literary festival, and rights listings on PubMatch.
“Brazil knows how to add up creativity, content, and professionalism. Now we just have to multiply our courage and boldness, and show the world all the awesome experiences our books can offer all kinds of readers”, says Dantas, looking forward to the Frankfurt week.
In addition to the online events and webinars, Brazilian Publishers is also using rights platform PubMatch to present 361 titles with translation rights available, including fiction and nonfiction, children’s and YA, educational books of all fields of knowledge, academic and professional books, as well as religious titles.
“The exchange of information and sharing of experiences among countries, whether via platforms like PubMatch or in international events like the Frankfurt Book Fair, strengthens the market as a whole. Publishers, writers and readers have the chance of meeting and diversifying their readings, as well as learning more about other cultures in the world,” says Dantas.
Brazilian Publishers Events at Frankfurter Buchmesse
Brazilian Publishers promotes a series of online live events about several themes. The roundtables take place from October 13-17 at 11:00 a.m. (Brasília time) via Zoom. See below the details and registration links below.
Webinar: São Paulo for the World Book Capital
- When: October 13 at 4 p.m. CEST / 11 a.m. Brasília — Register here
- Description: The debate will address the reasons why the largest city in Latin America deserves the title conferred by UNESCO and the importance of such recognition not only to São Paulo, but also to Brazilian literature as a whole.
- Participants: Luiz Alvaro Salles Aguiar de Menezes, secretary of foreign affairs for São Paulo.
- Moderator: Fernanda Garcia, executive director of the Brazilian Book Chamber
Webinar: Comic Books, Mangas and Illustrations
- When: October 14 at 4 p.m. CEST / 11 a.m. Brasília — Register here
- Description: Brazilian illustrators will talk about their work and the challenges of producing literature when the text is not the most important element. Also, they’ll analyze the growing market of comic books in Brazil.
- Participants: Fido Nesti and Eloar Guazzelli, illustrators
- Moderator: Rodrigo Paiva
Webinar: Machado de Assis and the several aspects of his literature
- When: October 15 at 4 p.m. CEST / 11 a.m. Brasília — Register here
- Description: Helio Seixas, an expert in the works of Machado de Assis, will talk with translator Flora Thomson-Deveaux, responsible for the most recent translation of Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, published under the title The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Penguin in the United States and sold out in 24 hours after the release. Also addressed: the blackness of Machado in his works, as well as the translation challenges.
- Participants: Helio Seixas, specialist in the works of Machado de Assis, and Flora Thomson-Deveaux, translator
- Moderator: José Almeida Jr.
Webinar: The Illustrator-Writer partnership in children’s books
- When: October 16 at 4 pm CEST / 11 a.m. Brasília — Register here
- Description: Two pairs of writers and illustrators will talk about such important partnership in the universe of books for children and young readers.
- Participants: Sandra Javera, Tino Freitas, Eliandro Rocha and Thiago Lopes
- Moderator: Isabel Coelho
Webinar: Indigenous literature in Brazil
- When: October 17 at 4 pm CEST / 11 a.m. Brasília — Register here
- Description: Anthropologist Tânia Lima, who studies the literature produced by Indigenous people, will talk with writer Daniel Munduruku and illustrator Maurício Negro about the representative nature of Brazilian Indigenous literature and its importance in contemporary times.
- Participants: Daniel Munduruku, writer, and Maurício Negro, illustrator
- Moderator: Rita Carelli, actress, writer, director
Brazil at BookFest Digital
In addition to the events above, several Brazilian writers will be taking part in Frankfurt’s Bookfest Digital program. Paulo Scott and Jarid Arraes discuss poetry, literature and colors. And Socorro Acioli and Emilio Fraia talk about their work and address Brazilian contemporary literature.
To conclude the evening Brazilian-style—and because regular Frankfurt veterans will miss Brazil’s usual stand party with caipirinhas this year—a kind of digital happy hour called Momento Caipirinha (“Caipirinha Time”) will take place with mixologist Paulo Ravelli and Brazilian cuisine writer Breno Lerner. Lerner talks about the history of the caipirinha—a Brazilian mixed drink—and Ravelli shows viewers how to make one. Accompanying the talk will be musicians Gian Correa and Henrique Araújo play “Noites Cariocas” by Jacob do Bandolim.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, and more from Publishing Perspectives on the Brazilian market is here, More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.
Fom international industry trends to curated guides to the many online events during this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, our digital magazine offers you the information you need to make the most of the fair and the rest of 2020.