Join the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Center for Latin American Studies for a lecture from the Portuguese writer, Alexandra Lucas Coelho. Her newest book, Deus Dará, studies the colonial history between Portugal and Brazil. Copies of the novel will be available for signing at the lecture. Ms. Coelho will address topics such as:
— Why and how she came to write this book
— Why and how Portugal became the biggest slave trading power in the Atlantic Ocean.
— Why and how this is connected to the present and the future
— The resistance to this debate in Portugal in 2017
— The novel as a transgender text: structure, language and resources
— The novel as a terreiro (the grounds of the Afro-Brazilian religions where ancestors, spirits and divinities are embodied)
— The narrator as a xamã (the person who connects with ancestors, spirits and divinities among the Brazilian Amerindians)
Alexandra Lucas Coelho worked as a reporter, covering conflict zones from the USSR to the Middle East and Central Asia, for more than 20 years. She lived in Jerusalem and Rio de Janeiro as a correspondent for Portugal’s Público newspaper.
With her first novel, E a noite roda [‘And the Night Spins,’ 2012], a failed love story set in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Alexandra Lucas Coelho received the Portuguese Association of Writers’ prestigious literary prize. Her second novel, O meu amante de domingo [‘My Sunday Lover,’ 2014], a short satire, was translated into French by Éditions du Seuil. In 2016 she published her third novel, Deus-dará, set in contemporary Rio de Janeiro and chronicling 500 years of colonial history. She has also published five non-fiction books: Oriente Próximo [‘Near East,’ 2007], Caderno Afegão [Afghan Notebook, 2009], Viva México (2010), Tahrir (2011) and Vai, Brasil [‘Go, Brazil,’ 2013].
There will be a few copies of Ms. Coelho’s novel Deus Dará (2016) available for signing following the lecture. Food and refreshments will be served.
