{"id":213066,"date":"2019-04-27T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=213066"},"modified":"2019-06-30T16:31:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T19:31:04","slug":"literary-fest-to-feature-book-on-syrian-refugee-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/literary-fest-to-feature-book-on-syrian-refugee-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary festival to include book on Syrian refugee girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Brazilian writer Carolina Montenegro\u2019s kids and teens book Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida<\/em> (Amal and the most important trip in her life) will be featured in the Po\u00e7os de Caldas Literary Festival (Flipo\u00e7os), in Po\u00e7os de Caldas, Minas Gerais. April 30 will see the book\u2019s 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 Get\u00falio Vargas Square, 10.\u00a0Flipo\u00e7os<\/a>\u00a0will run from April 27 to May 5. It\u2019s one of the most attended literary events in Brazil, welcoming 60,000 to 70,000 people.<\/p>\n

A fictional piece based on actual events, Amal<\/em> 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\u2019t come along because he\u2019s too old to travel. She sets off by herself, carrying an amulet from her granddad and the wish to reunite with him \u2013 his presence is felt throughout the story.<\/p>\n

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The cover of the book’s digital version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u2013 a common name there \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years, Italy was one of the countries that welcomed the most refugees. Amal, which is Arabic for \u2018hope,\u2019 is a Syrian kid because Syria is where most refugees in the world come from right now,\u201d Montenegro told ANBA over the phone from Italy where she lives.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s work handling communication for NGO M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res, where she\u2019d meet and speak with refugees, and on Italian local and international newscasts. \u201cIt\u2019s a journey of courage, a very beautiful journey in terms of overcoming things,\u201d the author said.<\/p>\n

The book had backing from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the S\u00e3o Paulo State Government. \u201cWe 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,\u201d said Montenegro, who\u2019s working for the book to be adopted by public schools in S\u00e3o Paulo and maybe across the whole country. \u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s story will be told at Flipo\u00e7os by the Syrian-Palestinian Oula Al-Saghir and by L\u00edvia Camargo of Brazil. \u201cOula\u2019s experience as a refugee and her knowledge of the Middle East brings a lot to the storytelling,\u201d said Montenegro. The lecture will include projections of watercolor paintings by illustrator Renato Moriconi, who the writer said \u201cbrought levity to such a tough story.\u201d A chat with Al-Saghir and Moriconi will ensue.<\/p>\n

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Oula Al-Saghir and L\u00edvia Camargo telling the book’s story at Sesc Paulista<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The book came out in S\u00e3o Paulo on March 15, in an event at Sesc Paulista which also featured a storytelling session, plus a book signing session. This is Montenegro\u2019s second book. She also wrote the reportage-book Sobre Jasmins, Bombas e Fara\u00f3s<\/em> (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<\/em> and Folha<\/em> in Italy and the Middle East, and spent a few months living in Lebanon as well.<\/p>\n

Amal<\/em> is freely downloadable in an app version on iOS and Android. The print version is available from the\u00a0Caixote website<\/a>\u00a0for BRL 50 plus shipping. Part of the proceeds will go to the UNHCR, and readers downloading it can donate up to BRL 50.<\/p>\n

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 Flipo\u00e7os.<\/p>\n

Quick facts <\/strong><\/p>\n

Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida<\/em> at Flipo\u00e7os
\nLecture and storytelling
\nTuesday, April 30, 1:30pm-5pm
\nTeatro da Urca
\nPra\u00e7a Get\u00falio Vargas, 10
\nPo\u00e7os de Caldas, MG
\nFree of charge
\nData sheet<\/p>\n

Amal e a viagem mais importante de sua vida
\n<\/em>Author: Carolina Montenegro
\nIllustrations: Renato Moriconi
\nEditora Caixote & Webcore Games
\nFor children aged 8 or older
\nThemes: kids-and-teens literature, refugees, migrants, humanitarian crisis, contemporary history
\n96 pages
\nISBN: 978-85-67767-02-4
\nPrice: BRL 50<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Divulga\u00e7\u00e3o<\/div>\n
Divulga\u00e7\u00e3o<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Amal and the most important trip in her life\u2019 was written by Carolina Montenegro of Brazil. On April 30, the Po\u00e7os de Caldas Literary Festival will feature storytelling and a lecture from illustrator Renato Moriconi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":213049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[8397,145,2093,8399,8400,6564,8401,10648,7497,471,432,8402],"class_list":{"0":"post-213066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-amal","9":"tag-arabe","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-editora-caixote","12":"tag-flipocos","13":"tag-kids","14":"tag-literary-festival","15":"tag-livro-ar","16":"tag-migrant","17":"tag-refugee","18":"tag-syria","19":"tag-teens"},"wps_subtitle":"\u2018Amal and the most important trip in her life\u2019 was written by Carolina Montenegro of Brazil. On April 30, the Po\u00e7os de Caldas Literary Festival will feature storytelling and a lecture from illustrator Renato Moriconi.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}