I'm the daughter and granddaughter of readers and grew up with lots of books and comics. These stimuli nourished my imagination, as did contact with nature. We need reading as much as we need silence and solitude to write. Those who read not only feed their ideas, but also create a repertoire of styles and narratives. I wrote my first story at the age of nine. It was called “Little Blue” and was about a talking blue rabbit, different from the rest of the family. A story inspired by Monteiro Lobato, his passion for animals and his desire to understand what they think and feel. During the summer break, I bought a blank notebook from the store, a pen and simply started writing. I never finished Little Blue's story, but it gave me the confidence to face the blank pages for the rest of my life.
I only know how to write about what I know. Ideas come from experiences, from what I've learned through research and reading, and there are also those that arise from a place that I can't explain, nor do I worry too much about where it is, I just take care to keep open the little doors in my heart that connect me to this crazy, magical world of human creativity. I think everyone is born with these little doors. Children always have them open, but some adults forget about them and close them carelessly. Every writer and storyteller needs to keep those doors open.
Everything. Once, in the last century, when there was no internet, I spent a few weeks on the island of Santa Bárbara, in Abrolhos, a long way from dry land. When I ran out of books, magazines and comics, I started reading the package leaflets.
I learned to swim, dive, love and respect the sea when I was still a little girl. For a long time I thought I was born loving whales. It's just that we forget what we experienced in the first few years of life. I became literate at the age of five, and the prize and challenge for the literate pupils at my school was to read a book written by our teacher on their own. I had already published a guide to whales and dolphins in Brazil when my mother found this book. What was its title? “The Blue Whale”! The two words I read for the first time on my own - whale and blue - stuck in my heart. Then, when I was an older girl, I watched a TV series with a dolphin as the main character: “Flipper”. I fell in love with Flipper and the place where the children who played with him lived. When I was 18, I visited the islands where the series was filmed, the Florida Keys, in the far south of the United States. There I looked into the eyes of dolphins for the first time. It was a passion so strong that it led me to return to Brazil to find and help protect the cetaceans that should exist in this great sea of ours, but were still little known to science.
It was because of whales that I learned to love corals and coral environments. In Abrolhos, I realized my dream of meeting the giants and photographing them, collaborating with the Humpback Whale Project. In the waters that had just become our first National Marine Park, I dived on its incredible cliffs and reefs and learned from the researchers and park rangers how important and formidable the animals are that build the largest living structures on our planet. Coral environments are the marine equivalent of tropical forests: colorful, full of life and diversity. They provide us with shelter, food, beauty, medicine, health and serve as a nursery and playground for whales and dolphins. How can you not love corals once you get to know them?
There are five of my favorite animals: I'm madly in love with wild cats, pumas, elephants, whales and dolphins. Oh, there are the araçaris too, and I've forgotten some others that I also love, can there be 10 favorites? Or 20?
I've always liked the fancy book object. During the production of my first book, the guide to the cetaceans of Brazil, I met designer Silvia Negreiros at the Nova Fronteira publishing house. I loved taking part in the whole process of making the book, learning a lot from the in-house professionals, with the encouragement of editor Lúcia Jurema Figueiroa. I did my first three books at Nova Fronteira and formed a duo with Silvia, which was two years of a lot of learning. For my new projects, I wanted to do even more, but I still didn't have control over the commercial distribution of the books, so Silvia and I founded an editorial production company, Manati. Within a few years we were also selling books and this partnership lasted more than two decades.
In illustrated works, the images are an integral part of the narrative, which is why I have always considered my illustrator partners as co-authors of the books. I've never tried to draw with the artists' hands; on the contrary, as I've been lucky enough to work with fine artists, I've valued what they add to my work from the very first book. The same goes for graphic design. Good graphic design can enrich a book, while poor design can detract from even the best illustrations and texts. The choice of typeface, for example, the size of the letters, the airiness between the lines, the quality of the printing, all add or detract from a book. Throughout my career I've formed some very nice duos with illustrators, as well as the luxury of having Silvia Negreiros as the designer of almost all my works.
A charming book for children should also captivate young people and adults. But writing for children and young people requires mastering special techniques and language. The younger the audience, the greater the challenge. There are also specific challenges, such as creating books for children at the literacy stage, for example, or picture books for young people. Children and young people have a different repertoire of knowledge, experiences and vocabulary from adults. The simpler the language used in narratives, the more sophisticated the author has to be. Complicating is very easy, simplifying and being great at the same time is the challenge of the art of writing and illustrating.
Adoro os clássicos, assim como gosto de descobrir novos talentos. Acho que meus livros e autores favoritos são aqueles que leio muitas vezes ao longo da vida. Para responder a essa pergunta eu lembro dos livros que levo de uma casa para outra quando me mudo, ou daqueles de que tenho saudades quando estou viajando, ou daqueles que li as obras completas. Então penso em Guimarães Rosa, Machado de Assis, Oscar Wilde, Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Cecília Meireles, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Karen Blixen, George Orwell, Quino, René Goscinny e Henfil, esses todos estão sempre comigo.
No book is good for everyone, not even for the same person at every moment of their life. A good book is one that enchants its reader. A good book for me is one that captivates me. As a publisher, I've always been careful to explain to authors who submit their works for my evaluation that when I choose what I'm going to publish, I'm not just selecting what I think is “good”, but rather the works that I think are exceptionally important, interesting or beautiful for the public for which I have distribution channels. I say “exceptionally” because I have a basic criterion: the printed book has to be worth at least the tree that was sacrificed to produce its paper.
I like my books best if they survive the test of time. Not every book has to live for many years. Some naturally become outdated or expire, especially informative ones. They may have been very important to me or my readers for a while, but over the years they perish, and that's fine.
I had the honor and joy of translating one of India's greatest authors, Anushka Ravishankar, and it was a wonderful exercise. For me, Elephants Never Forget is a masterpiece of world literature. Translating books is difficult and delightful at the same time.
Immense. I have an insatiable curiosity about various subjects of human knowledge. Following the history and progress of science is exciting. That's why I'm a fan of museums, magazines and science magazines. Art and science enrich my life and culture is what makes us human.
I started photographing at the age of 7, in 1975. I already wanted to be a nature photographer, and my first click was of a dove perched on the windowsill of my apartment in Ipanema. It was the time of analog photography, film and very simple cameras. Until I was about 18, almost all my savings and gifts were spent on rolls of film, better cameras and developing and enlarging. I studied photography at school in Oxford, England, when I was 17. Then I was a student at the University Center of Photography at PUC-RIO, which had excellent extension courses. From PUC I went to work in an advertising studio with Fábio Vidigal. With him I learned how to handle large format cameras and became a full-fledged lab assistant. When I got the opportunity to work with whales, I was able to start a photographic survey of whales and dolphins in Brazil and began publishing in books, magazines and newspapers.
Silvia has been my partner for over twenty years, but first and foremost she is one of the dearest people in my life. They say we look alike physically, some people confuse us, swear we're sisters, but our temperaments are different and complementary. I'm agitated, she's calm. I'm quick-tempered and chatty, she's shy. I'm fearful of some things and she's confident. She's fearful of others (especially cockroaches) for which I'm brave. Silvia has a class for graphic design, a critical sense for texts and an unparalleled good taste. Traveling with her and Mariana Massarani is an aesthetic adventure worth a doctorate in design.
Ever since Mariana illustrated the book “De bem com a vida” I realized that I had gained a friend, a literary partner and a fearless duo for naturalistic adventures. We have a great affinity, we both love science and art, and we have a good laugh together. We've done a lot of books and trips together, and we've also collaborated on marine research and conservation projects. Mariana is one of the most cultured people I've ever met, and her tips on reading, films, series and cultural programs are always incredible. We're always planning new creations, outings and trips.
I met Roseana at the turn of the century, when I became her editor. I read her poems before meeting the poet herself. It was friendship at first sight with her and her husband, the wonderful Spanish journalist Juan Arias. Roseana is one of the greatest poets for children of all time. Her poetry for young people and adults is also strong and beautiful. Read by millions of people in Portuguese-speaking countries, polyglot, highly cultured, with extraordinary sensitivity and strength, she has a sense of social justice and a commitment to education that guide everything she does. A lifelong friend, she made me the co-author of two books we wrote together. We both prefer to live in the mountains or away from big cities, but we keep in close contact even when there's an ocean between us. It's as if her poetry has taken deep root in me.
Ever since I started working with whales and dolphins, I've been enchanted not only by Liliane's scientific wisdom, but also by her ethics, professional seriousness and sensitive, affectionate personality. We became great friends, companions on fantastic trips and adventures, and co-authors of pioneering works. Discovering the world of whales and dolphins alongside her is an honor. Our whalewoman brasileira é revisora científica de tudo o que eu publico sobre baleias e golfinhos. Já são mais de 30 anos juntas na proa! Que venham muitos outros!
I had the joy of editing one of Flávia's most important books: “Mururu no Amazonas”. We are each other's readers and we have a delightful artistic exchange, I learn a lot from her about film and television. Like all Brazilian children, I'm a fan of her work as a scriptwriter on DPA and other series, and I'm sure I'll still go to a theme park with Pilar, the Detectives from Prédio Azul or other incredible characters she'll invent. While working at Coral Vivo, we made an animated film together that was a university for me: “Cora and the choirs”.
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