Enrollment for the Sesc Literature Prize runs until February 3

The 20th edition of the Sesc Literature Prize is open for registration until February 3rd. Beginner authors from all over the country can register, with unpublished works in the novel and short story genres. Enrollment is free and must be done online, on the Sesc website, where the award regulations are also available. The director of Social Programs at Sesc’s National Department, Janaina Cunha, highlighted in an interview with Agência Brasil that the award reaffirms Sesc’s place as a promoter and discoverer of literary talent. Last year, the award received 1,632 submissions, 844 in the short story and 788 in the novel genre. The expectation for 2023 is to maintain the high number of registrations. “It is a very relevant number that we receive annually and reaching this twentieth edition with all the success that we have had, along this journey, is a special moment for us”, said the director. Another interesting feature, not only from the point of view of inscriptions, is regionalization. “The process is very democratic. People from all over the country can enroll and, in the end, those awarded with the award participate in the national circuit of Sesc. We visit all regions to present these authors and mediate them with the public”. Janaina said that there is interest in expanding the award to other literary genres, such as poetry, for example. But, for the time being, the focus will remain on romance and story. “It’s something we are still evaluating.” Reports According to Janaina, the contact of the award-winning authors with the public encourages more people to write because it is a more open contest, “without marked letters”. “It is possible to believe in this career. It is possible to invest in this, and there is an opportunity for your work to be recognized by specialists in the field. As it is for beginner authors, we have been receiving these reports. Believe in your text, in the strength of your word, because it is possible to be read and be considered in the professional circuit”, assured Janaina. The winners have their works published and distributed by Record, a partner of Sesc since the creation of the project, in 2003. the inclusion of a minimum print run of 2,500 copies in the production chain of the publishing market. Novels and collections of short stories are evaluated by renowned writers, who select works based on literary quality. The winners of the 20th edition of the Sesc Literature Award will be announced in May this year. Continuity The award was not discontinued even during the first years of the covid-19 pandemic. “Constancy is an important factor for culture. The award has been held continuously for 20 years. The national literary circuit already has him”. Janaina Cunha also highlighted that literature is a very expensive area for Sesc, which offers, in all regions, literary writing workshops, reading mediation projects, activation of libraries, articulation of literature in other languages, such as music and performing arts , for example. “We have been highlighting, throughout the year, this power of the word in the field of the arts. And our culmination is the Sesc Literature Award, because then we manage to reveal and deliver to the market two new highlights annually”. The relevance of the Sesc Literature Award can also be measured by the success of its winners. In addition to being invited to other important international events, authors are often finalists or winners of other important awards. The writer Rafael Gallo, revealed by the Sesc Prize in 2012, was the winner of the last edition of the José Saramago Literary Prize, informed the Sesc, through its press office. In the 2022 edition, awards were given to Pedro Augusto Baía, from Pará, with the collection of short stories “Corpos benzidos em Metal Heavy”, and from Rio Grande do Sul, Taiane Santi Martins, with the novel “Mikaia”. The origin of the authors reaffirms the characteristic of the prize to stimulate diversity and its ability to project writers from the most different regions of the country. In 2023, the winners will travel to Sesc units across the country and will be able to dialogue with the public about the themes and the process of creating their books, which were launched in November 2022, in the Sesc program during the International Literary Festival of Paraty (Flip). Juliana Leite, Marcos Peres, Luisa Geisler, André de Leones, Franklin Carvalho, Sheyla Smanioto, Tobias Carvalho and Lucia Bettencourt are some authors discovered by the Sesc Literature Prize who have consolidated themselves in national literature, thanks to the institution’s encouragement. (Alana Gandra)

Agência Brasil