Ana Maria Gonçalves has become the first Black woman elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, which was established in 1897 and modeled after the Académie Française. The 54-year-old Brazilian contemporary writer is renowned for her 950-page historical novel Um defeito de cor (A Color Defect), which she refers to as “the history of Brazil told from the point of view of a Black woman.”
Of the 40 members, or “immortals,” as they call themselves, Gonçalves will be the sixth woman. With the exception of two Black men and the first and only Indigenous writer to join the organization, the other members are all white men.
There were 13 candidates running, and 30 of the 31 members who voted chose Gonçalves, with the remaining vote going to Eliane Potiguara, 74, who hoped to become the academy’s first Indigenous woman.
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In order to run a sort of “campaign,” Gonçalves mailed a copy of her book and a personal letter to every member. She also called some of them to discuss her work, although she made it clear that she never begged for votes.
“I’m the first Black woman, but I can’t be the only one,” Gonçalves said, according to The Guardian. “I can’t carry the weight of representing an entire population that continues to be marginalised and that is itself incredibly diverse,” she said.
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, who is regarded as the greatest Brazilian writer of all time, was the academy’s first Black president.
Even though the academy is still called the House of Machado de Assis, it has only had a few other Black men as members over the years. This is seen by many as a clear example of how racism functions in a nation where over half of the population is of African heritage. In 2018, 78-year-old Black writer Conceição Evaristo ran for election but earned only one vote.
Literary professors, writers, activists, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have all praised Gonçalves’ accomplishment.
Celebrating Gonçalves’s victory, Lula wrote that her book was his “companion” during his 580 days in prison, “and I always make a point of recommending it to everyone.”
According to 40-year-old poet and translator Stephanie Borges, Gonçalves’ victory will inspire other Black women to pursue careers in reading and writing. “When it’s us telling our own stories, we invite those who look like us to come closer to literature,” she said.
Cidinha da Silva, a 58-year-old novelist of over 20 books, reiterated that Gonçalves was elected “because she is one of the greatest living writers in Brazil,” not because she is Black.
Meanwhile, Gonçalves’ book, which has yet to be translated into English, was recently chosen by the newspaper Folha de S Paulo as the best piece of Brazilian literature of the twenty-first century to date. Since its 2006 release, more than 180,000 copies have been sold, achieving the uncommon feat of both critical and popular success.
By being elected to the 128-year-old academy, whose main goal is the preservation of Brazilian literature and the Portuguese language, Gonçalves seeks to address what she perceives to be a long-standing historical injustice.
“The academy does need more women, more Black people, Indigenous people, and people from other parts of Brazil,” said Gonçalves. “And I hope that now, from the inside, I can help make that happen.”
