Participation ranges from the Literary Novel category to Reading Promotion

The list of semifinalists for the 66th edition of the Jabuti Prize was released this Thursday (24), and Bahia was not left out: ten Bahians are on the list, among the 22 participating categories. Participation ranges from the Literary Novel category to Reading Promotion.

“Salvar o Fogo”, by Editora Todavia, marks Itamar Vieira Júnior’s second time among the Jabuti Prize semi-finalists, after winning in 2020 with “Torto Arado”. In the most recent title, the writer, born in Salvador and one of the most read in the country, tells the story of Moisés, a motherless man who lives with his father and sister in a rural village known as Tapera do Paraguaçu, on the banks of the river of the same name, in the interior of Bahia. Throughout the 320 pages, he interweaves the characters’ stories and the violence common to rural workers in Brazil.

Writer of novels, short stories, poems and dramaturgies, as well as a teacher and researcher, Luciany Aparecida is a semi-finalist in the Literary Romance category with the highly praised “Mata Doce”, published by Alfaguara. In the book, her first novel written under her own name, the author of Vale do Rio Jiquiriçá unites past and present when narrating the tragic events that permeate a small village in the interior of Bahia.

Born in Paulo Afonso, Jô Freitas is one of the ten semi-finalists in the Short Story category, with her debut book “Goela Seca”, published independently in September last year. The work brings together 23 short stories that cover the life of a young black girl, from childhood games to adulthood in a racist and sexist society.

Salvadoran author Ruy Espinheira Filho is one of two names from Bahia in the Poetry category, for the book “The invention of poetry & other poems”, released in June 2023 by Record publisher. Occupying chair number 17 at the Academia de Letras da Bahia and author of more than 35 books of poems, the poet and journalist already reached the final of the Jabuti Prize in 2006, when he received 2nd place with “Elegia de Agosto”. He is the owner of cultural merit awards such as the Cruz e Souza and the Poetry Award from the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL).

Also in Poetry, is Rodrigo Lobo Damasceno, nominated with the title “Limalha”, from the publisher Corsário-Satã, his second book. Born in Feira de Santana, in the center-north of the state, the poet currently lives in São Paulo and writes poems, short stories, novels and essays. In “Limalha”, he experiments with class issues through the verses.

Writer, teacher and founder of the first Afro-Brazilian school in the country, Bárbara Carine, known online as “Different Intellectual”, is a semi-finalist in the Education category with the book “Como Ser um Educador Antirracista”, from Planeta do Brasil. Born in Salvador, she has already been a finalist for the Jabuti Award twice, in 2021 and 2022.

Marcelo Veras, psychoanalyst, writer and professor of the Specialization in Psychoanalytic Theory at UFBA, the Specialization in Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at PUC Paraná and the Specialization in Lacanian-Oriented Psychoanalysis at the Baiana School of Medicine and Public Health, is among the ten semifinalists in the category Health and Wellbeing with the book “A Morte de Si”, published by Bregantini.

Matheus Araujo dos Santos, or Matheus Ah, from Bahia, is a semi-finalist for the translation of “Na Quebra: A Estética da Tradição Radical Preta”, by the publisher Crocodilo. Published for the first time in 2023, the book is the first by American theorist Fred Moten to be translated into Portuguese.

In addition to them, the Salvadoran anthropologist Hélio Santos was nominated alongside the Rio historian Raquel Barreto for the exhibition catalog “Carolina Maria de Jesus: Um Brasil para os Brasileiros”, which navigates the writer’s life through images, manuscripts and personal objects.

Bahia is also present in the Reading Promotion category, with the program “Corpos Indóceis, Mentes Livres”, coordinated by professor, doctor in literary and cultural criticism, lawyer and writer Denise Carrascosa. The project aims to bring literature to the women of the Female Penal Complex of the Lemos Brito Penitentiary Complex, in Salvador. Through workshops and classes, reading brings dignity to incarcerated women and makes it possible to redeem their sentences.