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Maria Valéria Rezende Brazil
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Maria Valéria Rezende
was born in Santos, in the state of São Paulo, in 1942. As a nun, she has been
addressing problems related to illiteracy for more than 30 years. She first
dedicated herself to popular education as part of the worker’s movement in the
outskirts of São Paulo, and subsequently in the Northeast of Brazil. To share
her experiences, she has gone wherever she has been invited, all over the
world. Between a first book of short stories and her first novel, Maria Valéria
Rezende has been attracting more and more readers, as well as critical
attention.
Her novel O
Vôo da Guará Vermelha (“The Flight of the Red Flamingo”) is a
multi-stranded love story which looks deeply into the subject of the lack of
love and affection, a source of suffering to so many people.
Luiz Ruffato comments:
Rosálio
and Irene. He, a bricklayer; she, a prostitute
infected with Aids. They meet by chance one day. He,
in need of someone who will listen; she, in need of someone who truly wants
her. Both anonymous and invisible to others, they resolve to share their
poverty and seek refuge in another world, a world where fantasy touches
reality, making their days a little more bearable. Maria Valéria constructs an
inventive narrative which is at once sophisticated and simple, in a way that
only great writers can do, deploying magical elements taken from both popular
and classical culture (...). Reading Maria Valéria Rezende is like taking to
the air and touching down on that which is most beautiful, most fragile, most human.
This novel –
impeccably well-written – surprises through the aesthetics of
its style, through its rhythm, and through the tender monochrome of a
tragically beautiful story. The author is undoubtedly a revelation on our
literary scene, a riposte to all those who have been touting a crisis in
narrative fiction.
Frei Betto
The beauty of this poetic prose combined with such a sensitive topic –
a feat that only a truly great person would be capable of – brought me some
unique reading moments.
It is a book to touch the heart of each and every one of us, without
false sentimentalism or easy kitsch. The originality of the language, the
musicality, the creativity and the extreme sensitivity that can be guessed at
through the silences and communication between Rosálio and Irene transport us
to a world of storytellers, of high and low culture – reminding us that the
1001 Nights are alive and kicking, waking our instincts for survival and humanity.
Cristina Ovídeo
Represented for Riff Agency, exc.
French, Portuguese and Spanish
Original editions and rights sold:
Novels:
O Vôo da Guará
Vermelha
Rio de Janeiro:
Objetiva 2005, 182 p.
Catalan: Club
Editor 2008 ● Portugal: Oficina do Livro 2007 ● Spain: Alfaguara 2008 ● France: Métaillié 2008
Short Prose:
Vasto Mundo
São Paulo: Beca 2001, 144 p.
Modo de Apanhar
Pássaros à Mão
Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva 2006, 136 p.