From the lobby of her Rio de Janeiro apartment, Elizabeth Bishop could see the Leme Sea and a landscape that she claimed was not "the most beautiful city in the world, just the most beautiful place in the world for a city." Forty years after her death, the American writer is back in this place.
Or almost — this time, she's about 150 miles from the helm. Bishop was announced as the honoree of the 18th edition of Flip, the Paraty International Literary Festival, which runs from July 29 to August 2, 2020.
Considered one of the top contemporary poets in the United States, the writer is the first international name to be celebrated by the event. "In addition to being one of the great authors of the 20th century, she has a foreign and conflicting look at Brazil," explains Fernanda Diamant, responsible for programming for the second year in a row.
Bishop lived 20 years in the country, from 1951 to 1971. Born in 1911 and with almost her entire life devoted to poetry, the writer published only about one hundred poems — which is credited to her perfectionism and self-criticism, which showed her only the best.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon