‘Onomatopoeia’ – Children’s literature festival starts today in Valongo

Starts today and ends on May 12th, another edition of Onomatopeia, the children’s literature festival in Valongo. There are four days, more than 120 hours of programming and more than 40 guests, including authors, illustrators, musicians, artisans, pedagogues and performers, integrating, for the first time, an accredited training program for teachers. The event will take place on the stages of the libraries of Ermesinde and Valongo, the Oficina de Regueifa and do Biscoito, along the streets of the city and Largo do Centenário.

This will be the sixth edition of Onomatopoeia and the second edition of the Álvaro Magalhães Iberian Children’s Literature Prize, the winner of which will be revealed on May 10th.

The municipality promises a “diverse program, shared by everyone and with everyone”, based on the theme of Freedom, contextualized by the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April and by the work of one of the great and unavoidable names in children’s literature who, in the middle of the Estado Novo , broke with the stereotypes of children’s literature. The epicenter of this festival will revolve around Matilde Rosa Araújo, for whom “the child is, in essence, revolutionary”, and who in her stories always spoke, without shame, of poverty, sadness, tears, but also of laughter, happiness , hope and dreams, death and life, love and friendship, childhood and old age.

With the first two days specially dedicated to schools and the weekend for readers of all ages, Onomatopoeia once again has as one of its highlights the battles of words that, once again, will be fought by brave authors who accepted this challenge of creating live and offline narratives, in a generous and unique sharing of a shared creative process and that only present readers will have the privilege of watching, explains the municipality.

Thus, the “Battles between Authors” are scheduled for Saturday night, when they will face each other, Lúcia Vicente and Renato Filipe Cardoso, Adélia Carvalho and Rita Dias, Katia Casimiro and João Fernando André, Raquel Patriarca and António Mota, Valter Hugo Mãe and Marta Bernardes. Moderation will be in charge of Tito Couto. After the battles, Dela Marny’s music will close the penultimate day of the festival.

And there will be many and varied freedoms celebrated and encouraged this year by Onomatopoeia, all united by that greater richness that is today the cultural dialogue established between the deep respect for each person’s roots and the place of meeting and union provided by the universality of values ​​and of the shared language.

But this year, the festival aims to achieve internationalization, through the special presence of several guests from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Brazil, in a celebration of Lusophony purposefully coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the day on which Portugal gained the right to democratic freedom and the people of Lusophone Africa gained the right to freedom as nations.

On May 10th, the authors distinguished this year by the Prize established by the municipality of Valongo, within the scope of Onomatopoeia in honor of Álvaro Magalhães, will be announced for his contribution to the appreciation and promotion of quality children’s literature.

Álvaro Magalhães, who is part of the jury together with Adélia Carvalho and Raquel Patriarca, will once again be present at the moment of revealing the writers who follow Afonso Cruz (1st prize) and Capicua (honorable mention), distinguished in 2023, the year of the first edition of this award.

Other new features this year is the integration of accredited training for teachers into the program, which will include the participation of José Pacheco, teacher, educational designer and author, founder of “Escola da Ponte” in Portugal and the “Projeto Anchor in Brazil” and who, together with Psychopedagogue Ludmila Duarte, and within the scope of the “Abril da Educação” tour, will present the New Social Constructions of Learning in Portugal, on the 8th of May at 6:00 pm, at the Municipal Library of Valongo , starting the Festival, in pre-event mode, and Onomatopoeia’s first accredited training action.

“Reading and Freedom” with the writer Raquel Patriarca and “História de Mão em Mão”, with the illustrator Evelina Oliveira, are the training actions specifically planned for teachers that will follow and will take place on May 10th in the afternoon, also in the Valongo Municipal Library.

Throughout this organization, Valongo intends to “encourage the formation of critical readers, thinking beings who become special people, more responsible citizens, supportive and involved in the community”, explained mayor José Manuel Ribeiro, listing that, for six years, Onomatopoeia “is proud to continue to bring grown-up readers together with more and more growing readers”.