São Paulo – Brazilian writer Carolina Montenegro’s kids and teens book Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida (Amal and the most important trip in her life) will be featured in the Poços de Caldas Literary Festival (Flipoços), in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. April 30 will see the book’s story told, in conjunction with a lecture for children with editor Isabel Malzoni and illustrator Renato Moriconi, from 1:30 pm to 3 pm at Teatro da Urca, on Getúlio Vargas Square, 10. Flipoços will run from April 27 to May 5. It’s one of the most attended literary events in Brazil, welcoming 60,000 to 70,000 people.
A fictional piece based on actual events, Amal tells the story of a Syrian 12-year-old girl who lives with her grandfather in the North of the country. When the bombs start falling, he sends Amal off to meet her uncle and aunt in Italy and tells her he can’t come along because he’s too old to travel. She sets off by herself, carrying an amulet from her granddad and the wish to reunite with him – his presence is felt throughout the story.
The little refugee girl goes to Turkey, Greece before finally reaching Italy. Along the way, Amal meets other refugee kids from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia and a Senegalese boy named Samba – a common name there – who wants to make his way to Brazil. She also meets a Brazilian journalist, with whom she discusses human rights and ways to change the world.
“For many years, Italy was one of the countries that welcomed the most refugees. Amal, which is Arabic for ‘hope,’ is a Syrian kid because Syria is where most refugees in the world come from right now,” Montenegro told ANBA over the phone from Italy where she lives.
The idea for the book came up two years ago in a conversation between Montenegro and Malzoni, the editor for publishing house Caixote, which released the book. The book is based on the author’s work handling communication for NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, where she’d meet and speak with refugees, and on Italian local and international newscasts. “It’s a journey of courage, a very beautiful journey in terms of overcoming things,” the author said.
The book had backing from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the São Paulo State Government. “We wish to showcase, rememorate and celebrate the fact that Brazil is internationally recognized as a country with a tradition of tolerance and of welcoming refugees,” said Montenegro, who’s working for the book to be adopted by public schools in São Paulo and maybe across the whole country. “It’s an effort to promote dialogue, to shed light on as relevant and current an issue as migration. This is important in fighting the prejudice that surrounds Middle East issues, and in making Brazilians more familiar with them,” she said.
The book’s story will be told at Flipoços by the Syrian-Palestinian Oula Al-Saghir and by Lívia Camargo of Brazil. “Oula’s experience as a refugee and her knowledge of the Middle East brings a lot to the storytelling,” said Montenegro. The lecture will include projections of watercolor paintings by illustrator Renato Moriconi, who the writer said “brought levity to such a tough story.” A chat with Al-Saghir and Moriconi will ensue.
The book came out in São Paulo on March 15, in an event at Sesc Paulista which also featured a storytelling session, plus a book signing session. This is Montenegro’s second book. She also wrote the reportage-book Sobre Jasmins, Bombas e Faraós (On Jasmines, Bombs and Pharaohs), with Arab Spring stories from Syria, Tunisia and Egypt. She has worked as a correspondent for outlets including BBC Brasil and Folha in Italy and the Middle East, and spent a few months living in Lebanon as well.
Amal is freely downloadable in an app version on iOS and Android. The print version is available from the Caixote website for BRL 50 plus shipping. Part of the proceeds will go to the UNHCR, and readers downloading it can donate up to BRL 50.
Montenegro plans on releasing versions of the book app in English, Spanish and Arabic, and on eventually releasing print and digital versions in Italian. Carolina Montenegro lives in Sicily, Italy. She will not attend Flipoços.
Quick facts
Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida at Flipoços
Lecture and storytelling
Tuesday, April 30, 1:30pm-5pm
Teatro da Urca
Praça Getúlio Vargas, 10
Poços de Caldas, MG
Free of charge
Data sheet
Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida
Author: Carolina Montenegro
Illustrations: Renato Moriconi
Editora Caixote & Webcore Games
For children aged 8 or older
Themes: kids-and-teens literature, refugees, migrants, humanitarian crisis, contemporary history
96 pages
ISBN: 978-85-67767-02-4
Price: BRL 50
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
