Conceição Evaristo

Conceição was born in a favela in the southern area of Belo Horizonte, to a very poor family with nine brothers and her mother.^[8]

She had to work as a domestic servant during her youth until she finished her normal course in 1971, at the age of 25. She moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she was approved on a civil service exam to be a teacher and studied Letters at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.^[9] In the 1980s, Evaristo got in touch with the Quilombhoje group. She made her debut in literature in 1990, with works published in the series Cadernos Negros, published by the organization.^[10]

She earned a master's degree in Brazilian Literature from PUC-Rio in 1996, and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Universidade Federal Fluminense in 2011.^[10] Her works, especially the novel Ponciá Vicêncio (2003), address themes such as racial, gender and class discrimination. In 2007, her first novel, Ponciá Vicêncio, became the focus of a Master's thesis in Brazil, the first one on the author.^[11] The novel was translated into English and published in the United States also in 2007.^[12] She currently teaches at UFMG as a visiting professor.^[10]

In 2018, she was nominated for a chair at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and lost to filmmaker Cacá Diegues by 22 votes to 1.^[13] The Caribbean Philosophical Association awarded its 2018 Nicolás Guillén Lifetime Achievement Award to Conceição Evaristo.^[14]

She is a corresponding member of the Academia Espírito-santense de Letras, Vitória, Espírito Santo.^[15]

Conceição Evaristo is a great exponent of contemporary Brazilian literature. She writes about race, gender and class discrimination, especially of black women.^[16]

• Ponciá Vicêncio (2003)
• Becos da Memória (2006)
• Canção para Ninar Menino Grande (2022)

• Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos (2008)

• Insubmissas lágrimas de mulheres (Nandyala, 2011)
• Olhos d'água (Pallas, 2014)
• Histórias de leves enganos e parecenças (Editora Malê, 2016)

• Cadernos Negros (Quilombhoje, 1990)
• Contos Afros (Quilombhoje)
• Contos do mar sem fim (Editora Pallas)
• Questão de Pele (Língua Geral)
• Schwarze prosa (Germany, 1993)
• Moving beyond boundaries: international dimension of black women's writing (1995)
• Women righting – Afro-brazilian Women's Short Fiction (England, 2005)
• Finally Us: contemporary black brazilian women writers (1995)
• Callaloo, vols. 18 e 30 (1995, 2008)
• Fourteen female voices from Brazil (USA, 2002)
• Chimurenga People (South Africa, 2007)
• Brasil-África
• Je suis Rio (Anacaona, 2016)