On April 27th, the Brazilian Academy of Letters will meet to elect who will occupy chair 8, which belonged to professor and specialist in Portuguese literature Cleonice Berardinelli. Thus, comic artist Mauricio de Sousa sent a letter expressing his interest in joining the institution.
In his letter, Mauricio emphasizes the importance of cultivating reading habits in childhood and the fundamental role of his work in this process in Brazil. Check out an excerpt from the letter sent to the academy:
“I think our role as authors is to create new readers.
ABL is the center of appreciation, not only for the Brazilian author, but for the reader. Without a reader there is no magic of literature. And to win over the reader, the best time is childhood. And this will be forever. Turma da Mônica is now on all communication platforms, so as not to miss the connection that the future will demand from everyone. I can make this contribution so that ABL’s work in encouraging reading through its immortals is more and more recognized, bringing readers closer to our classics also through comics.”
Another candidate for the 8th seat of the ABL, who is in the running for the position, is the philosopher Ricardo Cavaliere, author of “Entre Laços Entre Textos” and “Gramática no Brasil”.
Mauricio de Sousa before ‘Monica’
Each year, the “Turma da Mônica” comics sell approximately 12 million copies. In 2023, Mônica will celebrate 60 years since Mauricio de Sousa introduced the character to the public. But getting here was not easy.
Celebration is also a time to remember trajectories. Recently, in an interview with the program “Altas Horas”, the comic artist talked about his first attempts in the world of comics and the setbacks along the way.
When he was still little, Mauricio already liked drawing and dreamed of creating characters and telling stories. As an adult, in his work as a writer at a São Paulo newspaper, he tried to have an interview with the art director, but it was not a happy meeting. He counts:
“I showed him my drawings and, after examining them without much enthusiasm, he said: ‘Boy, give up. Drawing doesn’t give you a future, it doesn’t make you money. Go do something else with your life’. That great designer and artist says that to me? The ground fell from under my feet.”
As soon as he left that meeting, another of Mauricio’s colleagues from the newsroom tried to encourage him, suggesting that he keep practicing and show his best work to the editor-in-chief. A while later, he managed to work on police reporting assignments and his dream of becoming a cartoonist was forgotten.
Until he remembered his purpose, and thus Bidu and Franjinha were born. And the rest is history. The reach of the gang was so great that one edition reached the mark of “largest comic book in the world” according to Guinness World Records.
Tell us, who is your favorite character from Mauricio de Sousa’s gang?
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