This week Ian McMillan dives into the word 'Brazil' and 'Brazilian', discovering irony, fusion and confusion, and the astonishing ability of one of its most famous novelists, Clarice Lispector, to dilate time. He also translates a Brazilian poem into Yorkshire dialect to see what happens to the tone.
Toby Litt The novelist Toby Litt has become fascinated by the novels of Clarice Lispector, and responds with his own fiction in this, her centenary year. Lispector was born in Ukraine but spent much of her childhood in Recife, also living as an adult in Europe and the USA, as well as Rio de Janeiro. Toby is intrigued by her ability to 'dilate time', something he was also praised for achieving in his most recent novel 'Patience' (Galley Beggar ). https://tobylitt.wordpress.com/
Victor Esses Victor Esses is a Brazilian theatre and performance maker and a live artist based in London. He is interested in participation, autobiographical material, storytelling and multimedia as ways to investigate belonging. He performs part of his show 'Where to Belong' and discusses the way he involves the audience in his show. https://www.victoresses.com
Angélica Freitas Angélica Freitas grew up in Pelotas in Brazil and her poetry collections include 'Rilke Shake' and 'Um útero é do tamanho de um punho' ('The Uterus Is the Size of a Fist'). The Verb finds out why she feels there is a symmetry for her between the two words 'Brazil and 'Woman' . Ian McMillan's shares with her a Yorkshire Dialect version of her poem ('I sleep with myself' ) which he's written specially for this show.
Natan Barreto Natan Barreto was born in Salvador, Brazil, and is now based in London. He explains why Clarice Lispector is such an important writer not just nationally for Brazilians, but also internationally; he also explores her sensibility and the importance of language and Brazilian landscape to his writing. Natan is the author of six collections of poetry in Portuguese, including 'A Backyard and Other Corners'. He is about to publish his first novel. http://www.natanbarreto.com/
A Brazilian bilingual book club can be accessed via this website: http://londres.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/book_club.xml