As I write this, it is raining in Paraty. It is still beautiful, but its cold. The weather also occupied the mind of one of the writers I saw on day 5. Hanif Kureishi, (English mother, Pakistani father), grew up in Britain in the 1970’s. He said he “started writing to stop going mad”. He…
The day started with a press conference with Ian McEwan. He was his gentle mediative self and shared his love of Brazil. He first came to Brazil with his son in 2004 and his son said at the time Paraty had been the best 15 hours in Ian`s diary. His son, Gregory met a girl…
On Day 3, I attended a mix bag of sessions. The first session celebrated the poems of Drummond. In the next session Stephen Greenblatt and James Shapiro, shared their love of Shakespeare. Later in the day, Granta provided the space for two British writers to reflect on what being British means. Two Middle Eastern writers…
On day two, I covered some new Brazilian writers, who use death as their underlying theme, some interviews, in particular Liz Calder, President of the Paraty Festival, James Shapiro, Shakespearean scholar and the author Jonathan Franzen. Granta magazine in Brazil also announced the winners of their new writer’s competition. The day finished with a large…
Trying to work in Paraty has so far been a frustrating experience. The main event last night, which was sold out many weeks ago, was not the most compelling experience I had hoped it would be, having read some good things about Paraty. I am hoping today will be better. The organisational issues for…
The population of Paraty swells from 35,000 to 100,00 today, as book enthusiasts overwhelm the town. The opening ceremony starts at 7pm Brazil time, which is 4 hours behind the UK and Portugal. The programme went on the Flip website a few days ago and paper copies were available yesterday. The Portuguese are notorious…
Sitting under a willow tree, near the cobbled streets of Paraty, I am wondering why book lovers would make the long journey to this International Literature Festival. Our journey has taken a month, as we decided that if we wanted to go to the Festival we should also have a good look around Brazil. We…
New year’s eve is a strange night. On the one hand you think of past new year’s when you have been out and about – the fun you had and what you may promised yourself. This year, I did not want to move from the sofa. The memory of last year’s fireworks on the old…
A group of artists are working together in Tavira to inspire the local community to take a step into a range of creative activities. They work together as a cultural association using creative arts. What inspires them is the desire that people will share their skills and learn together in a workshop space opposite the…
Mrs Silva found the owl in August 2011. It was lying on a road in the Tavira area. It had been hit by a car and had a broken wing. At first it seemed the owl would never fly again. She carefully picked up the owl which was just a little bigger than her small…