Since June, Nine Cities Have Hosted Launches for the New Edition of Lugar de Fala

Through the end of the year, Djamila Ribeiro’s tour will travel to Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Salvador, São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Fortaleza, and Recife

Djamila Ribeiro has taken the new edition of Lugar de Fala (Place of Speech) to nine Brazilian cities since June, on a circuit that has included bookstores, universities, literary festivals, theaters, and public institutions. São Paulo, Santos, Belo Horizonte, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belém, Colatina, and Vitória have all hosted events centered on the book, published this year in a revised and expanded edition by Rosa dos Tempos. Eight more cities are on the schedule through December, extending a tour that is bringing back into public debate a concept that has moved beyond the boundaries of philosophy and become part of Brazil’s everyday vocabulary.

The new edition runs 476 pages and features four new chapters, along with updated data, new intellectual references, and reflections Djamila has developed in the years since the book was first published. It includes a foreword by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and an introduction by Grada Kilomba. The publication also marks a new chapter for Coleção Feminismos Plurais (Plural Feminisms Collection), the publishing project Djamila created in 2017 to expand the circulation of intellectual work by historically marginalized groups.

The first event took place on June 9 at Espaço Feminismos Plurais (Plural Feminisms Space) in São Paulo. The venue, steeped in personal and institutional significance for Djamila and the Collection, was filled to capacity.

Two weeks later, on June 25, the philosopher returned to Santos, her hometown, to deliver a keynote lecture at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Federal University of São Paulo — Unifesp), Baixada Santista campus. Identity, representation, knowledge production, and social participation were among the topics discussed at the launch.

Belo Horizonte was the third city to host the launch of the new edition. On July 13, Djamila opened the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Sempre um Papo (Always a Conversation) at the auditorium of Tribunal de Contas do Estado de Minas Gerais (Minas Gerais State Court of Accounts — TCEMG). The venue was packed for a conversation moderated by journalist and cultural manager Afonso Borges. The evening also featured a surprise appearance by the celebrated Conceição Evaristo, who joined the event devoted to literature and critical thought.

Next, Lugar de Fala arrived at Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (Paraty International Literary Festival — Flip). Djamila took part in three events during the festival and, on July 24, drew a capacity crowd at CasaFolha. During Flip, she also announced one of her new projects: a book about the so-called “red pill” world and the mechanisms through which misogynistic discourse spreads among young people, particularly online.

In Rio de Janeiro, the book reached one of its largest audiences. On August 2, more than 1,200 people attended Teatro Città, in Barra da Tijuca, for the debut of a partnership with Alma Talks within the national Lugar de Fala tour. On the occasion, Djamila drew attention to the presence of a delegation from Sindicato das Trabalhadoras Domésticas (Domestic Workers’ Union).

One detail stood out: the event took place almost nine years after the Rio launch of the first edition, which drew more than 3,000 people to the Lapa neighborhood in 2017.

Three days later, Djamila met with readers in Rio once again. On August 5, she took part in a conversation at Shopping da Gávea (Gávea Shopping Center), moderated by journalist and writer Yasmin Santos, followed by a book signing at the Janela Livraria bookstore.

Brasília hosted the launch on August 22 during the 6ª Bienal Internacional do Livro de Brasília (6th Brasília International Book Biennial), in the outdoor area of Museu Nacional da República (National Museum of the Republic). The crowd filled the space for the panel “Democracia, Diversidade e Representatividade” (“Democracy, Diversity, and Representation”), in which Djamila discussed the obstacles that still keep Brazil’s racial and social diversity out of the spaces where decisions are made and knowledge is produced, noting that nearly four centuries of slavery shaped an unequal starting point that Brazilian democracy has yet to overcome. The book signing that followed lasted more than an hour and a half!

The tour continued in Belém. On August 25, the Livraria Leitura bookstore at Boulevard Shopping hosted a well-attended signing session. Djamila recalled her previous visits to the capital of Pará and celebrated her return to present the expanded edition of the book. The following day, she took part in II Jornada de Boas Práticas para a Equidade Racial (2nd Forum on Best Practices for Racial Equity), organized by Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Pará (Pará State Court of Accounts — TCE-PA), broadening the dialogue between the ideas explored in the book and institutional initiatives aimed at confronting racial inequality.

The final two events of August took place in Espírito Santo. On August 29, Djamila appeared at Sapion Summit in Colatina with the lecture “Lugar de fala e educação para as relações étnico-raciais” (“Place of Speech and Education for Ethnic-Racial Relations”), followed by a book signing. It was the philosopher’s first public appearance in the city!

Vitória completed, on the 31st, the list of nine cities that have hosted the launch. The events in Colatina and the state capital marked the author’s first public appearances in Espírito Santo since the publication of the first edition of Lugar de Fala in 2017.

The range of venues visited since June helps illustrate the reach the book has achieved. The tour also creates opportunities to revisit the concept directly with readers — a concept that has entered the Brazilian vocabulary while, at the same time, becoming subject to simplifications far removed from its original formulation.

The schedule continues through December!

In September, the tour will stop in Curitiba on the 15th, Porto Alegre on the 16th, and Florianópolis on the 27th.

In October, Salvador will welcome Djamila on the 10th. November will bring events in São Paulo on the 8th, Ribeirão Preto on the 11th, and Fortaleza on the 26th. Recife will close out the announced schedule on December 6.

Translated by AI