The Portuguese writer and artist Grada Kilomba will participate in the 41st edition of the Toronto International Authors Festival, in Canada, which will take place from Thursday, with the presence of writers such as Margaret Atwood and Richard Ford
Sources from the local representation of the Instituto Camões and the Portuguese Embassy in Canada revealed to the Portuguese agency Lusa that the Portuguese essay writer will be one of the guests at the event, considered a reference in North America, and the oldest literary festival in Canada.
The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) will bring together, in this edition, international names from literature such as the Canadian poet, novelist and essayist Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, the American Richard Ford, author of “Independence Day” , and Scotsman Ian Rankin, author of “An Impossible Death”.
The name of Grada Kilomba, author of “Memórias da Plantação” – the best-selling book at the Paraty International Literary Fair – Brazil (FLIP), in 2019 – was one of the names of Portuguese writers suggested to the direction of the Canadian festival this spring by the Camões Institute / Coordination of Portuguese Education Abroad, and by the Portuguese Embassy as part of a partnership between these entities and the literary event.
Born in Lisbon, with roots in São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola, Grada Kilomba resides in Berlin, Germany, and has developed her work on issues of memory, trauma, race, gender and reflections of what she calls the “decolonization of thought” , in the context of the current problems about colonialism and post-colonialism at the beginning of the 21st century.
