Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 47

New Territories for Literature
in Contemporary Brazil
Ellen Heyward
Ellen Heyward is a multilingual professional with diverse experience in international cultural
cooperation, including designing and delivering projects, analysing and developing public policies,
creating multilingual communication strategies, and coordinating international events. Educated in
Melbourne, Beijing and Paris, she has worked with UNESCO, federal and state-level government
cultural agencies, private arts foundations, cultural NGOs and arts festivals in France, Mozambique
and Brazil. For the past ten years, she has maintained a particular professional and academic
focus on the international dimension of the Brazilian cultural sector; most recently, she coordinated
the Cultural Program for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A dual Australian/British
citizen, Ellen is currently based in Rio de Janeiro.
FLIP and FLUP are two annual literary festivals that take place in the state of
Rio de Janeiro. FLIP, the Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (International
Literary Festival of Paraty), was established in ���� by Liv Calder, cofounder
of Bloomsbury Publishing. FLUP, the Festa Literária da Periferia
(Peripheries’ Literary Festival) was created in ���� by Brazilian writers Julio
Ludemir and Ecio Salles. These two events exemplify and challenge high
and low constructions in Brazil, which also incorporate the dichotomies of
centre and periphery, and inclusion and exclusion.
FLIP, Brazil’s first ever literary festival, began with a traditional model based
on other successful international programmes. For � days each July, readers
flocked to the historic sea-side town of Paraty to commune with like-minded
others and listen to their favorite authors speak.
While events are free, the festival’s ability to
feature famous authors such as Salman Rushdie,
Ian McEwan, and Don DeLillo, has made it
an expensive endeavor for visitors to afford
transportation, meals, and accommodation.
FLUP arguably presents a more innovative model:
an itinerant festival that migrates each year to a
different favela, a slum. FLUP aims to develop
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