Pessoa (magazine)

Pessoa is a Brazilian online literary magazine that publishes poetry, short-stories, drama, interviews, essays, and book reviews, besides covering the Lusophone literature market. Founded in 2010 and published by Mombak, its editor-in-large is Mirna Queiroz. It is one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in Portuguese-language and the only that covers the literary production of all Lusophone countries. It is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

History

Cover issue nr.3 Pessoa magazine

Pessoa magazine was founded by journalist and editor Mirna Queiroz and launched at the 2010 São Paulo International Book Biennial, with support by the Official Press of the State of São Paulo. The title pays homage to Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, one of the most important names in world literature. In an interview to Lusa, the Portuguese news agency, Mirna Queiroz underlined that:

"Above all the magazine aims to encourage reading, we want to bring literature to the reader, especially the most distant groups who do not have access to public facilities, either for lack of opportunity or knowledge."^[1]

To adjust to global publishing trends^[2] and maximize its audience, in 2012 Pessoa discontinued its printed version and became a fully-fledged online platform. In February 2016 it launched its new design and team of columnists aiming at reinforcing its distinct plural identity and at fully exploring the potentials of the digital climate.

Notable Contributors

Many well-known Lusophone writers have published in Pessoa or have been interviewed by the magazine, such as Ferreira Gullar, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Manuel Alegre, Luiz Ruffato, Valter Hugo Mãe, Milton Hatoum. The magazine is also recognized by the high-quality of its regular essay and op-ed contributors who write about literary/cultural, political, and social topics. They include Alison Entrekin, Eloésio Paulo, Manuel Jorge Marmelo, Noemi Jaffe, Elvira Vigna, Nilma Lacerda, Ronaldo Bressane, Tiago Novaes, Josélia Aguiar, Juliano Garcia Pessanha,Victor Heringer, Isabel Lucas, Alice Sant’Anna.

Curators

All work published in Pessoa is reviewed by editors Carlos Henrique Schroder (short-stories), who is also the magazine’s associate editor, Heloisa Jahn (poetry) and João Cezar de Castro Rocha (Literatura Brasileira Hoje).

E-books

In 2014 Pessoa and Mombak began the publication of e-books to shed light upon emerging literary voices. One of the most successful collections – Latitudes – edited by author Maria Valéria Rezende, brought attention to five local Brazilian writers and made it to Amazon's Top 1 best-selling e-books in Brazil.^[3]

In the same year, Mombak gathered short-stories and poems published in Pessoa throughout the year. Edited by Luiz Ruffato the two anthologies were published in e-book. The first - Desassossego^[4] - published short-stories by Cíntia Moscovich, Susana Moreira Marques, Luiz Roberto Guedes, Carlos Quiroga, Monique Revolution, Vanessa Ribeiro Rodrigues, Marta Barbosa, Sergio Leo, Márcia Barbieri, Rafael Gallo, Alexandre Staut, André de Leones, Carlos Henrique Schroeder, Daniel Antônio, Astier Basílio, Tiago R. Santos, José Luiz Passos, Maurício de Almeida and Wladyr Nader. The second anthology - Fingimento^[5] - published poems by Donizete Galvão, Ronaldo Cagiano, Victor Heringer, Antonio Barreto, Iacyr Anderson de Freitas, Eloésio Paulo, Ana Martins Marques, Moacir Amâncio, José de Assis Freitas Filho, Vera Lúcia de Oliveira, Tércia Montenegro, Adriana Lisboa, Mariana Ianelli, Camila do Valle and Dora Ribeiro.

Anthologies

Cover and back cover of 2015 anthology, French edition

In 2015 Pessoa began publishing annual anthologies (in French and English) of Brazilian writers to showcase Portuguese language literature abroad. The first anthology, with 27 authors (prose, poetry, children's and drama), was presented at the 2015 Salon du livre de Paris^[6] and the 2015 Boston Book Festival. The publication was edited by Université Paris-Sorbonne’s literature professor Leonardo Tonus.

Events

Pessoa regularly organizes events in Brazil and abroad to encourage reading or to promote Portuguese-language literature, including sessions at the Salon du livre de Paris or at the Boston Book Festival, in partnership with well-recognized academic institutions such as Paris-Sorbonne University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Boston University. Events in Brazil have been organized with Sesc, the Culture Secretariat of the State Government of Sao Paulo, and Blooks Bookstore, among other institutions.

Partnerships

Pessoa is an associate member of the Boston Literary District, America’s first Literary Cultural District. In 2015 Pessoa and Worldreader, a U.S. non-profit organization with the mission of "providing digital books to children and families in the developing world", signed a partnership making Pessoa’s content available for free. It was Worldreader’s first partnership with a Lusophone media partner. In 2016, a new partnership was announced with Words Without Borders aiming at the exchange of selected works with the ultimate goal of generating greater global visibility for American and Lusophone authors.^[7][8]

References

External links

• Official website