Moderator: Livia Almendary (CES)

 
About

Poetry, in many contexts of the Global South, has been a tool for communication and social transformation, a megaphone to make the voice of silenced people heard. Poet Ferreira Gullar says: “it is only fair to sing when your song carries with it people and things that have no voice”.

The writer, poet and cultural organiser Cleyton Mendes proposes a meeting to discuss the importance of saraus and slams (spoken poetry battles) in the peripheries of Brazilian cities, particularly São Paulo, and his work with poetry in prisons and public schools.

He is also launching his book "África é logo aqui", a journal about his trip to Mozambique, with accounts of the experience of the young poet, son of the African diaspora, who returns to his mother continent.

Bio notes

Cleyton Mendes was born in Poá, São Paulo, Brazil; he graduated in Advertising, is a poet, slammer and master of ceremonies. He worked at the Post Office, where he developed an authorial project of delivering poetry with the mail. As he describes himself, he brings in his work, besides much re-existence, a mixture of ancestry, bohemianism, reflection, nostalgia and love for what he does! Since 2015, he participates in slams and is the creator and master of ceremonies of the sarau Pense Já and Afrônt Poesia. He had the opportunity to conduct cultural exchanges in South Africa and Mozambique in 2018, and in Ireland in 2019. Mendes has four published books and works with poetry initiation and reading encouragement with young people in public schools.

Livia Almendary is a PhD candidate in Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship at CES, and researches the intersections between youth, cinema, artivism and communication in the Global South. She is co-founder and co-director of the Taturana Institute, a film distribution company focused on social impact.

Initiative within the Research Programme «Epistemologies of the South»