Introduction

Djamila Ribeiro holds a degree in Philosophy and a master’s degree in Political Philosophy from the Federal University of São Paulo. She is the curator of the Feminismos Plurais Collection and the author of books on Black feminism, anti-racism, and her own life story. Her works, translated into several languages, have sold over 1 million copies.

Since 2025, she has been a visiting professor in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In previous years, she taught undergraduate and graduate programs at institutions such as New York University (NYU) and the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).

In 2023, she received the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. In earlier years, she was awarded the Prince Claus Award and was recognized by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential women in the world.

She is a lifetime member of Chair No. 28 of the São Paulo Academy of Letters, succeeding Lygia Fagundes Telles, and writes a weekly column for the Ilustrada section of Folha de S. Paulo. She also serves on the boards of the Padre Anchieta Foundation, the São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pinacoteca), and the Endowment Fund of the University of São Paulo (USP).

A daughter of Oxóssi and Iansã, she is the loving mother of Thulane Ribeiro Alves da Silva, her greatest pride.

PROFESSIONAL MEMOIR (2018-2024)

Djamila Ribeiro in Belo Horizonte. Photo: Luciano Vianna/SESC

Introduction

As the coordinator of the Sueli Carneiro Label in partnership with Jandaíra Publishing, Djamila has published texts and books by over 80 black authors and artists. The Label is an independent project focused on publishing works by black people, especially women, from Brazil and Latin America, and aims to democratize knowledge from these historically invisible social groups.

The Feminismos Plurais Collection, owned by the Label, publishes critical topics written by black people at affordable prices with popular language. The small, didactic book format, distributed at cultural events promoted by the Collection, broke paradigms in the publishing market and became a huge success, with hundreds of thousands of copies sold.

*Lugar de Fala*, the first book in the Collection written by Djamila, was launched in November 2017. Since its release, it has been one of the best-selling books in all the major editorial lists. It ranked second on the best-seller list at the Paraty Literary Fair (FLIP) in 2018, the largest in Brazil, which was considered a historic achievement for an independent publishing label. In 2019, *Lugar de Fala* was in 9th place at FLIP, marking consecutive years on the best-sellers list, another significant milestone in Brazilian literature. Additionally, it topped the best-seller lists at dozens of literary fairs, such as the Feira do Livro de Cachoeira (FLICA), Feira Literária das Periferias (FLUP), Porto Alegre Literary Festival, and Feira do Livro do Pelourinho (FLIPELÔ), among many others.

Through Companhia das Letras, Djamila is the author of three books. Her 2018 book *Quem tem medo do Feminismo Negro?* compiles her writings from a column she maintained for years in CartaCapital and has appeared on several best-seller lists. The texts published in this column have been adopted in numerous educational materials for elementary and high school across the country and are used as references for anti-racist and feminist debates.

In November 2019, she released *Pequeno Manual Antirracista*, her most successful book, which has remained on the best-sellers list of *Revista Veja* for over 100 weeks. The book discusses topics like contemporary racism, blackness, whiteness, racial violence, culture, desires, and affections, and it also includes a glossary of black authors. In February 2021, due to the book’s sales success, Djamila reached 500,000 copies sold in Brazil.

Her latest book, *Cartas para minha avó*, released in 2021, is a collection of letters to her grandmother Antônia, recounting her childhood, adolescence, and the challenges of adulthood. Since its release, the book has been on the best-sellers list and has resonated deeply with readers.

*Diálogos Transatlânticos* is her fifth book, which compiles conversations between Djamila and Nadia Yala, a professor at the University of Paris 8. This work was published in France by Editions Anacaona in 2020 and is scheduled to be released in Brazil by the publisher Bazar do Tempo in 2024.

One of her most significant honors occurred on September 1, 2022, when she took her seat at the Paulista Academy of Letters, succeeding the illustrious writer Lygia Fagundes Telles. The inauguration ceremony was attended by people from various social backgrounds, and Djamila was welcomed by the beats of drums from her own community. The reception speech by immortal writer Leandro Karnal prepared the way for Djamila’s historical address as the youngest member among her contemporaries and the second black woman in history to join the academy, following in the footsteps of writer Ruth Guimarães.

Her books have been adopted in numerous biographical courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. *Lugar de Fala*, for example, according to Google Academics, registered 657 citations in master’s and doctoral theses in the second half of 2020, despite Djamila being “only” an undergraduate and master’s graduate from the Federal University of São Paulo. Thousands of people line up for book signings at fairs and literary events where she has appeared across Brazil, in cities such as Salvador, Belém, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Teresina, Rio Branco, Curitiba, Natal, Bonito, Ribeirão Preto, Bauru, and many others. Her works are used as reading materials in classrooms, debates, and teaching resources in schools, and they are included in prestigious university entrance exams such as Fuvest and Unicamp.

As of 2024, Djamila Ribeiro has sold 800,000 copies in Brazil.

Beyond the works she has authored, Djamila has written more than a dozen prefaces, including one for the book *Mulheres, Raça e Classe* by the American black feminist author Angela Davis. It was Djamila who reached out to Davis in 2015 to have the book translated and published in Brazil in 2016. Over the years, Djamila has also contributed to prefacing works by prominent figures such as Grada Kilomba, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison, the first and only black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Djamila has participated in numerous international meetings with thinkers and writers from around the world, including Alice Walker, Achille Mbembe, Ruby Bridges, Kalaf Epalanga, Mamadou Ba, Ruth Gilmore, Oprah Winfrey, and many others. In 2022, at the Carioca Book Fair, Djamila moderated a lecture given by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in a full Maracanãzinho stadium.

Djamila and Chimamanda in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Bel Acosta

Djamila Ribeiro and Editorial Work

In partnership with Jandaíra Publishing, led by publisher Lizandra Magon, Djamila coordinates the Sueli Carneiro Label, and as editor of the label, she published *Sueli Carneiro: escritos de uma vida*, a tribute to the honored Sueli Carneiro. The launch event at SESC Pompéia gathered admirers, the writer’s family, and key figures from the Brazilian black movement. The second book published, *Ó Paí Prezada: racismo e sexismo tomando bonde nas penitenciárias femininas*, brings Carla Akotirene’s master’s thesis from the Federal University of Bahia.

In November 2020, the third book of the Label was launched: *Mulheres Quilombolas*, coordinated by Selma Dealdina, featuring eighteen women from different quilombola communities in Brazil. This is an unprecedented work in the country’s history, supported by the National Coordination of Articulation of Quilombola Communities (CONAQ). In September 2021, the Label launched its first translation, *Black Power*, by the Tobagonian activist and U.S. resident Kwame Ture, also known as Stokely Carmichael. The book includes a preface by his son, Bokar Ture, and was a milestone in the 20th-century civil rights movement, with Ture being the one to coin the term “institutional racism.”

In late 2021, Djamila coordinated the book *Uma nova História, feita de histórias: Personalidades negras invisibilizadas da História do Brasil*, which features 16 texts from black researchers across Brazil who rescue personalities who deserve recognition for their contributions to Brazilian history.

In 2022, the label published *Educação quilombola: territorialidades, saberes e as lutas por direitos*, which compiles texts from the I National Virtual Conference on Quilombola Education, a partnership between the University of Brasília (UnB) and CONAQ.

Later in the same year, the Okán Dùdù series (Black Heart) was launched, aiming to publish books on African-based religions. The debut book, *Axé, o poder de realizar: mensagens para mudar o seu dia*, was written by Rodney William.

In October 2022, the book *A resistência negra ao projeto de exclusão racial – Brasil 200 anos (1822-2022)*, organized by Prof. Hélio Santos, was released, gathering 18 texts from historical figures in the black movement, such as Kabengele Munanga, Sueli Carneiro, Cida Bento, and Ana Maria Gonçalves, to reflect on Brazil’s bicentennial of independence from a black perspective. Djamila Ribeiro contributed an article titled “A urgente democratização das mídias: Uma abordagem gaspariana”.

In 2023, Djamila Ribeiro’s editorial initiative published the translation of *Águas de Estuário*, by Colombian writer Vélia Vidal, which provides an epistolary reflection on life in the Chocó region of Colombia. Djamila and Vélia met at the Hay Festival in Cartagena in 2021, and this work in Portuguese is the first in a movement to translate and publish works by women from the Global South.

In June 2024, she was announced as the Coordinator of the “Feminismos do Sul Global” label, to be published by Record, under the prestigious Rosa dos Tempos imprint. The label has already announced the book *Feminismo Dalit*, written by Indian researchers who discuss the situation of women and their experiences as Dalits in India’s caste system.

Djamila Ribeiro and the Feminismos Plurais Collection

The Feminismos Plurais Collection has become an indispensable collective work for raising awareness among the Brazilian population on anti-racist and feminist perspectives and has revolutionized the Brazilian publishing market by expanding space for the large-scale publication of high-quality non-fiction works by black authors with social engagement.

To date, the collection has published fourteen titles, surpassing the 500,000-copy mark. The titles are as follows: *Lugar de Fala*, *Encarceramento em Massa* by Juliana Borges, *Empoderamento* by Joice Berth, *Racismo Estrutural* by Silvio Almeida, *Interseccionalidade* by Carla Akotirene, *Racismo Recreativo* by Adilson Moreira, *Apropriação Cultural* by Rodney William, *Intolerância Religiosa* by Sidnei Barreto, *Colorismo* by Alessandra Devulsky, *Transfeminismo* by Letícia Nascimento, *Trabalho Doméstico* by Juliana Teixeira, *Discurso de ódio nas redes sociais* by Luiz Valério Trindade, *Cotas raciais* by Lívia Sant’anna Vaz, and *Lesbiandade* by Deise Fatumma.

The transformations promoted in Brazil by Djamila Ribeiro’s editorial work have and will continue to be the subject of much historical reflection. It is worth noting that the hundreds of thousands of books sold are not only a significant indicator of the success of the works themselves but also a sign of a cultural shift in literature. According to research by Regina Dalcastagnè from Djamila Ribeiro’s University, between 1964 and 2014, publications by black people in large publishers represented only 10% of their catalogs.

This movement has Djamila as one of its foremost representatives. The works published in the Collection also represent a strengthening of the black community in the market, being a key factor in the significant increase in works published by black people in the country.

“When Djamila (Ribeiro) cites Audre Lorde or other amazing black authors, whether fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or theater, publishers follow suit,” says Florencia Ferrari, director of Ubu Publishing in an interview with *O Globo*.

Djamila Ribeiro and International Work

Djamila Ribeiro’s editorial work and that of authors from the Collection have crossed the Atlantic and established strong roots in Europe. Thanks to partnerships with publishers in France, Italy, and Spain, her coordination has led to the translation of works, which have been published in French by Editions Anacaona (Joice Berth, Adilson Moreira, Rodney William, Alessandra Devulsky, Letícia Nascimento, Deise Fatumma), Spanish (Juliana Borges), and Italian by Capovolte Edizioni (Carla Akotirene and Luiz Valério Trindade).

The pandemic slowed the exchange of authors from the Collection to these countries, postponing the arrival of Brazilian black intellectuals in an already heated scenario. However, between 2019 and early 2020, there were two tours in France. All events were sold out, and Djamila’s works were launched at major literary festivals. Her post-pandemic return came in October 2022 with a tour in France, Belgium, and Germany.

In 2022, Djamila Ribeiro attended the International Book Fair in Turin, Italy, where some of her works were launched in Italian by Capovolte. In 2023, Djamila toured the country for the launch of her books in Bologna, Florence, Milan, and Rome.

Djamila Ribeiro is a member of the Beauvoir Society, which brings together scholars on the thought of Simone de Beauvoir. She has lectured at conferences in Oregon, St. Louis, Berkeley, Duke, Harvard, Kings College, Oxford, and many other universities. In 2018, she lectured at the “Angela Davis Chair for Invited Professors” at the University of Goethe in Germany, and in 2019 she was a visiting researcher at Maxcy’s College, invited by South Carolina University. She is also a visiting researcher at the University of Mainz in Germany. She regularly participates in major literary events in Frankfurt, Berlin, Edinburgh, Nairobi, Bogotá, and Brussels, among others. Her talks have been featured at UNESCO, the World Bank, and in parliaments in foreign countries.

In 2023, she was a keynote speaker at the UN General Assembly on the Day in Memory of the Abolition of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, with a speech on “Fighting the legacy of slavery through transformative education.”

In 2024, she was invited as a keynote speaker for the upcoming release of the English edition of *Lugar de Fala*, translated by Yale University Press, and also as the new holder of the Andrés Bello Chair for invited professors at New York University. The book, translated as *Where We Stand*, features a preface by Chimamanda Adichie and a back cover by Patricia Hill Collins, Ibram X. Kendi, Linda Alcoff, Priyamvada Gopal, and Kia Lilly Caldwell.

São Paulo, February 28, 2023 – Published with biographical details, book purchasing links, recent articles, professional schedule, and contact information.

Last update: August 17, 2024.

Djamila Ribeiro’s Press Office