Cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa, 87, has applied for Chair 8 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL). Maurício sent the president of the Academy, Merval Pereira, a letter in which he demonstrated his interest in him in applying for the vacant post that belonged to Cleonice Berardinelli, who died in January 2023.
Mauricio will compete for the vacant seat with philologist Ricardo Cavaliere in an election to be held on April 27. There is another vacancy after the death of the writer Nélida Piñon, which will be contested by Heloísa Helena Oliveira Buarque de Hollanda and Oscar Araripe, whose election will take place on April 20th.
The cartoonist visited the institute’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and decided to place his order after being charmed by the local academics.
“This nomination is to join efforts with all academics to show the importance of this secular entity so that children and young people can learn more about our literature and the great authors who are and have already been there,” said the cartoonist .
And he added: “When I was young, after getting literate with comics, I read a book a day and the great Brazilian writers were my company and helped me to be who I am today. I want to reciprocate that affection with a lot of work on behalf of Brazilian authors and also cartoonists”.
This year, the cartoonist celebrates the 60th anniversary of the creation of his most famous character, Mônica, inspired by his daughter. A biopic of the author should be released by the end of the year, with his son Mauro Sousa in the role of his father in his youth.
In addition, Chico Bento’s live-action film is scheduled for release next year, following the film adaptations of Mauricio’s work, following the success of the two films – and series – live-action “Turma from Monica” .
Read the letter in full:
“I was between four and five years old when I saw a comic lying on the sidewalk. Those illustrations made me so happy that I asked my parents to read it to me. Until my mother, too busy with other things, decided to teach me to read and read. In three months I already knew how to read and that was a revolution in my life as a child. I can only say that after the comics I switched to Lobato’s books and I was already a bookworm when I was young, I read one book a day, Eça de Queiroz, Machado de Assis, Raquel de Queiroz, Guimarães Rosa… Today, at 87 years old, and being the author of a lively gang, I see the same thing happening to millions of children all over Brazil who are being encouraged to read from comics and become literate even before school.In my meetings at the Book Biennials and in schools in Brazil, I ask that those who have learned to read with Turma da Mônica raise their hands. obviously some to please me, but all feel infected by the reading bug.
I think our role as authors is to create new readers.
The ABL is the center of appreciation, not just for the Brazilian author, but for the reader. Without a reader there is no magic of literature. And to conquer the reader, the best time is childhood. And this will be forever. Turma da Mônica is now on all communication platforms, so as not to lose the connection that the future will require of everyone. I can make this contribution so that ABL’s work in encouraging reading through its immortals, bringing readers closer to our classics also through comics, is increasingly recognized.
For this reason, our characters are lent to very important campaigns in Brazil and around the world. Project with UN Women and UNICEF. In partnership with UNESCO, highlighting the human right to literacy. Several Brazilian writers have been awarded in the Donas da Rua project, such as Clarice Lispector, Maria Firmina dos Reis and Lygia Fagundes Telles. Characters created to better inform what empathy and inclusion are, such as Luca (a boy who uses a wheelchair) and Dorinha (a blind girl inspired by Dorina Nowill), using the group as a source of credibility to generate solidarity and spread teachings about the many friends with disabilities. Children and young people need not only to be informed, but educated by the magic of literature and its incredible characters.
So I come not only to ask to participate in the election of the PRESIDENCY n. 8 OF THE BRAZILIAN ACADEMY OF LETTER, WHICH WAS BY CLEONICE BERARDINELLI, but to give back to the great Brazilian writers who shaped me a little of what I owe them for who I am. And comics are pure literature of modern times in which drawing has been incorporated to win more and more readers. There are millions. I will give my contribution if the immortals also understand this. Immortals who in a certain number were with me at five o’clock tea on March 9, 2023. For brief conversations also on the nature of my work. I felt the best of climates from the first steps and from the words heard inside the wonderful ABL headquarters.
Best regards,
Maurice de Souza
Source: Terra
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