On Wednesday, July 21, Ms. Kiusam will present her lecture on African Brazilian children’s books, "From O Black Power de Akin to Akin's Afro: A Multicultural Journey". Ms. Kiusam will be in the presence of Carolina Marchi (Maria Sol Produções), with a Q&A facilitated by Patricia Vocal and Dr. Michele Saraiva Carilo. This lecture is part of CLAS' Summer BookBox 3: Introduction to Portuguese in children’s literature. The event is FREE!
Ms. Kiusam de Oliveira is a Brazilian writer, who started her career attending college classes while in high school. Right after that, she started studying Pedagogy, focusing on School Administration and Teacher Education. She has a specialization in Higher Education Methodology and Intellectual Disability, a Master's in School Psychology and Human Development, and a Doctorate in Education, all from USP -- Universidade de São Paulo. She was in charge of Ethnic-Racial Relations at UFES (Federal University of Espíritu Santo) until 2019.
She has been a teacher for more than 25 years, having dedicated much of her time to Special Education and Teacher Education in Diadema, a city in the outskirts of São Paulo, implementing projects in accordance with Law 10.639/031 and holding different roles in public management functions. Over the years, she has developed training activities for educators and professionals from all areas, along with public and private institutions, on topics related to gender diversity, ethnic-racial issues, and the like.
From 2009, she began a sequence of literary releases with great national and international success, having her books awarded in several categories. Highlights include the book Omo-Oba: Histórias de Princesas (Omo-Oba: Princesses Histories), highly awarded by 2019, when she celebrated 10 years from its first edition. After that, she also released O Mundo no Black Power de Tayó (2013), O Mar que banha a ilha de Goré (2014), and O Black Power de Akin (2020). Ms. Kiusam is entering 2021 with plans to release a series of 7 new works throughout the year, with Akin's Afro (the English version of O Black Power de Akin) being the first to kick off the series.
About Ms. Kiusum: Ms. Kiusam is a remarkable Brazilian intellectual and writer, highly prized in Children’s Literature. Aiming to heal her inner child, she has found in literature a way to respond to the world’s delicate issues concerning human development and ethnic-racial topics. In her academic life, she holds a master’s degree in Psychology and a doctoral degree in Education from USP (Universidade de São Paulo). Also acting as a multi-artist, she is a reference in activism in The Black Movement - since the 1980´s she has been part of the Movimento Negro Unificado (MNU) – the Unified Black Movement. This is very important to mention: she loves herself - her black skin, her coily hair, her afro, her rounded nose and her black-currant eyes. This way, she struggles so every Black child can love herself. As a writer, her legacy is writing books aiming to validate Black people’s identities.
Instagram: @mskiusam
About Carolina Marchi: Carolina Marchi is multidimensional. Educator through - not of - languages for 20 years, she is also a cultural producer, which makes her walk through different fields to build bridges so treasures can reach people no matter what their cultural or academic background. She has been to 7 countries around the world and is passionate about how languages can bring people together. As such, she works to use English as a code to link people together around important issues. She is the mother of Antonio Bento and João Francisco, and the boys are a great inspiration for her. She sees Art-Culture-Education as a lifestyle.
Instagram: @mariasolproducoes
