July 25 — National Writer's Day — is the day chosen by former Minister of Education and Culture Pedro Paulo Penido, in 1960, to honor Brazilian writers. The choice of this date is due to the realization of the I Festival of the Brazilian Writer, sponsored by the Brazilian Union of Writers (UBE), which took place on July 25, 1960.
From this year on, the day July 25th is celebrated across the country. On this occasion, events are organized that seek to value authors and authors of Brazilian literature and encourage the reading of your works. After all, the country has great writers, such as Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector, which are also recognized in other countries.
Read too: 1O May — Brazilian Literature Day
Origin of National Writer's Day
O National Writer's Day emerged through an ordinance, signed on July 23, 1960, by the then Minister of Education and Culture Pedro Paulo Penido (1904-1967). the choice of the day July 25th for the commemoration of the National Writer's Day occurred because, in that year, on that date, the
I Festival of the Brazilian Writer, in Rio de Janeiro, promoted by Brazilian Union of Writers (UBE), whose vice president was the writer Jorge Amado (1912-2001).![Writer Jorge Amado took office at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, in 1961. [1]](/f/ba12e1713e85984673f84f4a30e15e76.jpg)
Thus, the minister, for considering the July 25th a significant date due to the realization of the festival sponsored by the União Brasileira de Escritores (UBE) and the fact that, according to him, this institution "has provided relevant services to the national culture, stimulating the lyrics and defending the rights of those who dedicate themselves to them”, instituted the National Day ofWriter, with the objective of honoring writers and writers from all over the country.
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What is celebrated on National Writer's Day?
At the National Writer's Day, ceremonies and other events are held in schools, libraries, academies and public agencies for celebrate the work and life of writers and writers Brazilians. This date is conducive to reflection on the difficulties that eventually this class goes through in the which refers to the production and dissemination of their work, as well as in relation to legal issues involving O copyright.
It is also an opportune date for actions aimed at valuing national literature and who seek encourage the reading of Brazilian works. Thus, libraries and publishers can take advantage of this day to promote the classics of literature national and present contemporary works by well-known authors or new talents. Schools are responsible for the appreciation and exaltation of the Brazilian culture from the dissemination of the works and information about their authors or authors.
So, such a day is an opportunity to bring into focus the canonical personalities of our literature, the great names of Brazilian literature, honored for their contribution to the arts and national culture. In addition to being an occasion for rescue authors and authors who have fallen by the wayside, but they deserve, whether for aesthetic or historical reasons, national recognition.
Read too: April 18 — National Children's Book Day
Great Brazilian writers you need to meet
![Cover of the book Dom Casmurro, by Machado de Assis, published by the publisher L&PM – the best known and most talked about author and work in Brazil. [2]](/f/51b5c879284536fdae9b3e9e0c226689.jpg)
THE Brazilian literature has big names. Some of them are even recognized outside the country. However, here we have selected only a few writers to represent, in summary, the national literature, as well as some of his works.
Gregory of Matos(1636-1696): lyrical-philosophical, sacred and satirical poetry.
Gonçalves Dias(1823-1864): first corners (1846).
Álvares de Azevedo (1831-1852): twenties lyre (1853).
Castro Alves (1847-1871): the slave ship (1868).
José de Alencar (1829-1877): luciola (1862), iracema (1865) and Lady (1875).
Maria Firmina dos Reis (1822-1917): Ursula (1859).
Luiz Gama (1830-1882): Getulino's first burlesque ballads (1859).
Machado de Assis (1839-1908): The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (1881), Quincas Borba (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899).
Aluisio Azevedo(1857-1913): the tenement (1890).
olavo bilac(1865-1918): Poetry (1888).
Cruz e Sousa (1861-1898): Buckets (1893).
Lima Barreto (1881-1922): Sad end of Policarpo Lent (1915).
Augusto dos Anjos (1884-1914): Me (1912).
Mario de Andrade (1893-1945): Macunaíma (1928).
Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987): the people's rose (1945).
Cora Coraline (1889-1985): Poems from the alleys of Goiás and more stories (1965).
Murilo Rubião (1916-1991): The pyrotechnician Zechariah (1974).
Jorge Amado(1912-2001): Sand captains (1937).
Ferreira Gullar (1930-2016): dirty poem (1976).
Haroldo de Campos (1929-2003): galaxies (1984).
Clarice Lispector (1920-1977): star hour (1977).
João Guimaraes Rosa (1908-1967): Grande sertão: paths (1956).
Carolina Mary of Jesus (1914-1977): Eviction Room: Diary of a Favela (1960).
Paulo Leminski(1944-1989): Distracted we will win (1987).
Caio Fernando Abreu (1948-1996): moldy strawberries (1982).
Conceição Evaristo: Poncia Vicencio (2003).
See too: April 23 — World Book Day
Sentences
![Writer Clarice Lispector alongside Tom Jobim. [3]](/f/a244cad9f3f8e216a3dd5a89a00c3c59.jpg)
"Whoever wins the resistance ennobles himself."
(Gregory of Matos)
"Ills, like sardines, run in shoals."
(Gonçalves Dias)
"The poet wakes up on earth."
(Álvares de Azevedo)
"Whoever sits by the straw fire, however much the flames rise, does not feel their heat."
(Castro Alves)
"The genealogy of poets begins with their first poem."
(José de Alencar)
"Life for me is in tears."
(Maria Firmina dos Reis)
“Until I was ten I was a child; from ten to eighteen, I was a soldier."
(Luiz Gama)
"It is not uncommon for hatred to originate where it was natural to hold affections."
(Machado de Assis)
"How powerful is the effect of good news!"
(Aluísio Azevedo)
"I want to go out on the street and embrace everyone, friends and enemies, monarchists and republicans, God and the Devil!"
(Olav Bilac)
"I am fatally condemned to a life of misery and squalor."
(Cross and Sousa)
"The mental capacity of black people is discussed a priori and the white one, a posteriori.”
(Lima Barreto)
"I am accumulating the most ardent homesickness and nourishing myself with them, like a scavenger bird, in its solitude."
(August of the Angels)
"The past is a lesson to meditate on, not to reproduce."
(Mário de Andrade)
“We carry Mines in our blood, wherever we go…”
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade)
"Fear is the greatest slavery of the creature."
(Cora Coraline)
"The writer does not separate life from literature, life and literature are one and the same."
(Murilo Rubião)
"The condition of being a writer is a political condition."
(Jorge Beloved)
"Poetry wants to be the inexplicable, the expression of what amazes and fascinates."
(Gullar smith)
"You can't do everything."
(Haroldo de Campos)
"I'm even upset with liking it so much."
(Clarice Lispector)
“When I write, I don't think about literature: I think about capturing living things.”
(João Guimarães Rosa)
"The book is man's best invention."
(Carolina Maria de Jesus)
“To be a poet, you have to be more than a poet.”
(Paul Leminski)
"I like the light more and more, each time I find the joy, the pleasure, more important."
(Caio Fernando Abreu)
"It's from the everyday life of the popular classes that I take the juice out of my writing."
(Conceição Evaristo)
Image credits
[1]Public domain | National Archives Collection
[2] Reproduction: L&PM
[3] Public domain | National Archives Collection
by Warley Souza
Literature teacher
