The 23rd edition of the Paraty International Festival of Literature (FLIP) which concluded on Sunday 3 August 2025 displayed –-at least to this veteran of four FLIPs—current tendencies of contemporary writing both in Brazil and abroad and an emphasis on feminism.
Having attended the recent Biennale Book fair in Rio de Janeiro, this observer noted at least one parallel between the two literary events in their emphasis on feminine writers and their plights in battle against so-called machoism.
Predominately missing this year were prominent writers in the English language which to this observer was a strange sensation and admittedly a disappointment.
For in the past, I had personally met and interviewed the prominent American journalists Gay Talese (ex-NYTimes) and in 2005 Jon Anderson (the New Yorker magazine:Iraq war) .
And those who have walked Paraty`s stone cobbled streets have included such greats as Eric Hobsbawm (2003), Julian Barnes (2003) Ian McEwan (2004), Salmon Rushdie (2005) Christopher Hitchens, (2006) to name only a few.
In Flip’s big and main Matriz auditorium (temporarily constructed for the event) four important Flip events featured women writers including Brazil`s (Thursday) Mar Becker (Porto Alegre) and Monique Malcher (Santarem, Para state-`DeGola`or `Sticking), Friday, Swedish cartoonist Liv Stromquist and Curitiba`s (southern Brazil( Giovana Madalosso (Batida so, a discussion of emotions, relations, and faith), Astrid Roemer (Amazon state, ‘A Women`s Madness`).
On the male side, Flip 23 years was dedicated to the late Curitiba poet Paulo Leminski(Curitiba,southern Brazil-1944- Curitiba,1989).
Among the biggest `hits` of FLIP was the controversial Israeli author now British university professor Ilan Pappe speaking eloquently about his books and research on what he believes is the attempt to remove Palestinians from their native land.
The other stars of FLIP included Spanish author Rosa Montero (`The Ridiculous Idea that I will Never See You Again`) and Italy`s Sandro Veronesi, considered one of Italy`s most import novelists in the last decades.
The Italian, who has undergone psychoanalysis for the last 30 years, told his audience that `psychoanalysis has taken the place of philosophy.`
At the summing up press conference 3 August, Sunday at the lovely colonial Pousada do Ouro (Golden Inn), I asked curator Ana Lima Celio whether this emphasis on females speaking on feminicide was intentional and received the answer that it was not planned but based on those writers invited this year with the budget cut 30 per cent from previous years.
One can only hope and pray that in light of President Trump`s 50 per cent import tax on Brazilian exports to the USA this intact colonial city from Rio de Janeiro and 269 kilometres from Sao Paulo which recalls Venice and Thailand will continue to thrive and grow as a cultural centre and not be infested with fast food restaurant,hi rise condos and other blots on its lovely sea, mountains and colonial pousadas or Inns.
And in this age when online reading and Facebook seem more popular and widely read than `old fashioned `literature, discussions of books and treatment of hard-working authors as pop stars is indeed more than welcome.
