Conceição Evaristo

Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito (born November 29, 1946) is a Brazilian writer.[1] Her work is marked by her life experiences as an Afro-Brazilian woman, which she calls escrevivência—a portmanteau of escrita (writing) and vivência (life experience).[2] She was born into a humble family and is the second oldest of 9 siblings, being the first in her household to earn a university degree. She helped her mother and aunt with washing clothes and deliveries, while studying.[3]

Conceição Evaristo
Evaristo in 2013
BornMaria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito
(1946-11-29) November 29, 1946
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

In the 70s, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she passed a contest, starting to write only in the 1990s.[4]She completed her master's degree in the mid-1990s and her doctorate in the early 2010s.[5][6]

Biography

Conceição was born in a favela in the southern area of Belo Horizonte, to a very poor family with nine brothers and her mother. She had to work as a domestic servant during her youth until she finished her normal course in 1971, at the age of 25. She moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she was approved on a civil service exam to be a teacher and studied Letters at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.[7] In the 1980s, Evaristo got in touch with the Quilombhoje group. She made her debut in literature in 1990, with works published in the series Cadernos Negros, published by the organization.[8]

She earned a master's degree in Brazilian Literature from PUC-Rio in 1996, and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Universidade Federal Fluminense in 2011.[8] Her works, especially the novel Ponciá Vicêncio (2003), address themes such as racial, gender and class discrimination. This work was translated into English and published in the United States in 2007.[9] She currently teaches at UFMG as a visiting professor.[8]

In 2018, she was nominated for a chair at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and lost to filmmaker Cacá Diegues by 22 votes to 1.[10] The Caribbean Philosophical Association awarded its 2018 Nicolás Guillén Lifetime Achievement Award to Conceição Evaristo.[11]

Works

Novels
  • Ponciá Vicêncio (2003)
  • Becos da Memória (2006)

Poetry
  • Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos (2008)

Short stories
  • Insubmissas lágrimas de mulheres (Nandyala, 2011)
  • Olhos d'água (Pallas, 2014)
  • Histórias de leves enganos e parecenças (Editora Malê, 2016)

Participation in anthologies
  • Cadernos Negros (Quilombhoje, 1990)
  • Contos Afros (Quilombhoje)
  • Contos do mar sem fim (Editora Pallas)
  • Questão de Pele (Língua Geral)
  • Schwarze prosa (Germany, 1993)
  • Moving beyond boundaries: international dimension of black women's writing (1995)
  • Women righting – Afro-brazilian Women’s Short Fiction (England, 2005)
  • Finally Us: contemporary black brazilian women writers (1995)
  • Callaloo, vols. 18 e 30 (1995, 2008)
  • Fourteen female voices from Brazil (USA, 2002)
  • Chimurenga People (South Africa, 2007)
  • Brasil-África
  • Je suis Rio (Anacaona, 2016)

References
  1. "Conceição Evaristo: Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos" (in Portuguese). Vermelho. 2012-02-27. Archived from the original on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  2. Cazes, Leonardo (2016-07-11). "Conceição Evaristo: a literatura como arte da 'escrevivência'". O Globo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  3. "Conceição Evaristo - Biografia, obras, poemas e frases". Escola Educação (in Portuguese). 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  4. "Maria da Conceição Evaristo, a voz da mulher negra na literatura". R7.com (in Portuguese). 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  5. "Conceição Evaristo: biografia, principais obras - Brasil Escola". Meu Artigo Brasil Escola (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  6. Cultural, Instituto Itaú. "Conceição Evaristo". Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  7. Duarte, Eduardo de Assis (April 2006). "O Bildungsroman afro-brasileiro de Conceição Evaristo". Revista Estudos Feministas. 14 (1): 305–308. doi:10.1590/S0104-026X2006000100017. ISSN 0104-026X.
  8. User, Super. "Conceição Evaristo - Literatura Afro-Brasileira". www.letras.ufmg.br (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2017-11-10.
  9. Barbosa, Maria José Somerlate (2011-11-01). "Ponciá Vicencio". Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. 44 (2): 325–326. doi:10.1080/08905762.2011.614494. ISSN 0890-5762.
  10. Betim, Felipe (31 August 2018). "ABL frustra expectativas de campanha por Conceição Evaristo e elege Cacá Diegues como novo imortal". El País (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  11. "Nicholas Guillen Award". www.caribbeanphilosophicalassociation.org.
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