Les Patios Saint-Jacques, 4-14 Rue Ferrus, 75014 Paris
Machado decided to become a writer in the early 1960s and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in literature from the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
Gallery of Ana Machado
Av. Pedro Calmon, 550 - Cidade Universitária da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21941-901
Ana received a master's degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Les Patios Saint-Jacques, 4-14 Rue Ferrus, 75014 Paris
Machado decided to become a writer in the early 1960s and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in literature from the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
(The story is about a dog and a frog who each tries to pro...)
The story is about a dog and a frog who each tries to prove he is the bravest. When they meet a lion, they decide that there is more strength in numbers. School Library Journal reviewer Louise Yarlan Zwick said that “the rhyming, rich language is music to the ear and very funny.” Hispania contributor Myriam Met noted the “delightful pastel illustrations” that accompany the text.
(Children living in an apartment building are deprived of ...)
Children living in an apartment building are deprived of their pets by the president of the community. When unicorns begin appearing in and around the building, the president thinks he is going mad and leaves, as do the unicorns when they are no longer needed. In reviewing the Spanish-language version for School Library Journal, Louise Yarlan Zwick and Mark Zwick said the pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors “bring the story to life.”
(Describes the cultures and civilizations of Latin America...)
Describes the cultures and civilizations of Latin America, both before and after contact with Europeans, and looks at the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas. A Junior Bookshelf contributor praised the excellence of the material and illustrations in Machado’s Exploration into Latin America, an English-language history that spans 8,500 years and covers European influence on Latin America, conquests and failures, the power of wealth, and archaeological finds. Included are a lime line, glossary, and index. The writer called the volume “an attractive and stimulating introduction.”
(Tropical sol da liberdade is Machado’s Portugese-language...)
Tropical sol da liberdade is Machado’s Portugese-language adult novel in which the protagonist, journalist Helena Maria, is attempting to write a play about Brazilian and Spanish-American political exiles. At the same time, Helena is dealing with her own exile and imprisonment, her failed marriage, and a broken foot. She reflects on the events of the period of the military coup of 1968 to 1970 and her own turbulent family. Her mother and father are estranged, and her brother, Marcelo, is a fugitive guerrilla to whom she provides aid. Machado incorporates a number of letters, published accounts of tortures, and writings of political exiles into Helena’s autobiographical play. Bobby J. Chamberlain wrote in World Literature Today that “so skillfully are such grafts written and integrated into the novelistic discourse that it is often difficult to tell what the author has appropriated from empirical investigation and what she has created to bolster a powerful message.” Chamberlain said that the book is “one of the best-written examples of the genre, blending personal history with demystified collective history, the discourse of the politically oppressed with that of a submerged feminism.”
(The story of a king and his family begins with “and they ...)
The story of a king and his family begins with “and they lived happily ever after” and then goes into reverse. School Library Journal contributor Rose Zertuch Trevino called the story “humorous.”
School Library Journal contributor Judith Rodriguez reviewed the Spanish-language version of El domador de monstruos (“The Monster Tamer”), which she complimented as “bright and amusing.” To overcome his fear of the monster-like shadows cast on his wall by the trees outside his window, Sergio calls the monsters to him. The picture book teaches the numbers front one to thirteen as Sergio gives the first monster one eye, the second two mouths, etc.
Ana Maria Machado is a Brazilian author who has written more than 100 books for children. She opened the first Brazilian children’s bookstore in 1979.
Background
Ana Machado was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1941. Machado was the eldest of eleven children of Mario and Dinah Martins. She spent many childhood summers at her grandparents' home in a small coastal village, where oral storytelling provided a source of entertainment during the warm evenings.
Education
A precocious student and talented painter, Ana traveled frequently as a child, visiting Argentina, the United States, France, Italy, and England. For a time she studied painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She received a master's degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Machado decided to become a writer in the early 1960s and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in literature from the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
Ana began her professional life as a painter in Rio de Janeiro and New York. She was a professor of Brazilian literature and literary theory at the University of Rio de Janeiro in 1969. She also taught at the University of Paris, Paris, France. Machado worked as a journalist for the magazine 'Elle' in Paris and the BBC in London. Machado began writing in 1969. In 1979, she opened Malasartes, the first children's bookstore in Brazil.
Machado, like many in her generation of children's writers, continued the legacy of José Bento Monteiro Lobato, considered the first real writer of Brazilian children's literature. Like Lobato, these writers play with language, and with fantasy and humor. For example, in História meio ao contrario, Machado turns the structure of fairy tales upside down, beginning her story with "and they lived happily ever after" and ending with "once upon a time." She doesn't try to convey anything in particular. Maybe she just tries to share a way of looking at the world and at life in general. A personal view that is full of dreams of a better place and better times, with more justice and freedom. Ana's motivation for writing is her love for the language and for stories in general. She has always loved to read and listen to stories, so she just wants to go on doing it and making it possible for other people to find more stories - the ones she writes.
Ana came from a very simple family - from traditional rural experience. But since she studied, read and traveled a lot, she mixed this basic influence with a certain cosmopolitanism and intellectual sophistication-which ends up reflecting quite accurately Brazilian society which is full of such paradoxes.
Quotations:
"When children's literature, poetry, and song lyrics were among the few forms of literature that, by using language poetically and symbolically, managed to say something, insisting on the joy of living, individual freedom, and respect for all persons' rights."
"As for the role I occupy today (according to the critiques in which I most recognize myself), it is that of an author who takes great care with the language and with the very structure of narrative, with the different voices of the characters."
''The international exchange through the translation of children’s books should be one of the most effective ways of promoting international understanding.''
Membership
Machado is a member of the Brazilian Section of IBBY, PEN International (global association of writers), fundaçao nacional do livro infantil and sindicato de escritores de rio de janeiro.
Brazilian Section of IBBY
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Brazil
PEN International
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London
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
In World Literature Today, Glauco Ortolano characterize Machado as "a true master of the art of writing."
Connections
Ana is married to Lourenzo Baeta Bastos. They have several children: Rodrigo, Pedro Martins Machado, Luisa Martins Baeta Bastos.