“Our house values ​​Afro-Brazilian marginal literatures”

Sometimes you have to cross countries to give birth to a publishing house. Meanwhile, Nichelle Teles, 32, knows it better than anyone. Meanwhile, Born in Salvador de Bahia. For example, she put her suitcases for a long time in São Paulo, before arriving in France, in 2017.

After a short passage in the capital, it was ultimately in the Marseille city that she establishes home. In addition, She finds a place at the University of Aix-Marseille, and starts a DUT of the book professions. Moreover, But student precariousness forces her to chain a double activity as a waitress in a Marseille refreshment bar. Meanwhile, After a few years of back. In addition, forth between Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, she finally graduated, and begins to live from her passion.

“A cry from the periphery to the world” – "our house values ​​afro-brazilian marginal

After training in WildProject editions. Furthermore, she co “our house values ​​afro-brazilian marginal -bonded the Br Marginalia association at the end of 2023, with two friends, Vincent Achour and Gayané Zavatto. The house is giving itself mission ” to enrich the French library by valuing Afro-Brazilian marginal literatures. highlighting peripheral cultures-favelas, quilombolas and natives“, Specifies Nichelle Teles to News.

More broadly. the structure undertakes to work with ” Afrodiasporic authors from popular classes who often find it difficult to be published, and whose stories remain little represented She adds. “” More than publishing books. we seek to present the life stories hiding behind these works, recognizing Afro-descendent marginal literature as a cry from the periphery to the world.»

A first title that announces the color

The project is. according to Nichelle Teles, a tribute “To the courage and inheritance of the Afro-Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), whose work continues to inspire and guide those who fight for diversity and inclusion in “our house values ​​afro-brazilian marginal literature, by raising the voices reduced to silence and highlighting stories that question the established standards. »

In July 2024, the house inaugurated its catalog withRouge favela,First novel by the writer and independent publisher Wesley Barbosa. Born in ItapeCerica da Serra. in the state of São Paulo, son of a cleaning lady who raised him alone, the author writes since childhood.

“They were naive. but the sadness was there”

In adulthood, and apart from any classic editorial structure, he manages to sell more than 10,000 copies of his books in hand, in bars, the streets of São Paulo and on social networks. In 2023, he created his own publishing house, Barraco Editorial.

In a way. his novel tells his story, but through the eyes of Mariano, a young boy born in a favela by São Paulo who finds refuge in books. Despite the social injustices of which he is the “our house values ​​afro-brazilian marginal target. he continues his way and takes us into his dark universe, describing the people who populate it. But as the story progresses, despite the harshness of the territory that encloses it, fleeing spaces, possible escapes …

I saw kids playing with kite, running in all directions, badly dressed, hungry, barefoot. They were happy because they didn’t know they were sad. They understood neither misery nor sadness itself because they were naive. but sadness was there, which germinated in them, like the rotten flower, without perfume, of this reality.

– Extract fromRouge favela

To read – Mayeges, the new publishing house which redefines the imagination

The novel is translated from the Portuguese by Alain François, performer who lived several years in Campinas, and the cover was made by Francisco Mesquita, artist from Olinda, in the Brazilian Nordeste. True to his editorial line, BR Marginalia “our house values ​​afro-brazilian marginal wishes to collaborate with young Afro-Brazilian artists · nes for each publication.

Image credits: cover ofRouge favelafrom Wesley Barbosa

Boulland Loulla
Contact : [email protected]