Katie Slade

Toni Marques

This diverse, literary patchwork of Rio de Janeiro contains 10 short stories set in varied quarters of the city drawing on its inhabitants' experiences of recent historical and cultural changes. From Copacabana's thriving LGBT scene in the 1960s where the military dictatorship simultaneously terrorizes and represses politically-minded citizens, to the exhausted labourers constructing the Rio-Niteroi bridge - 'the pride of Brazil' - at gunpoint in 1974, to contemporary life in the neighbourhood of Leblon, where a call girl trying to get to a party reluctantly accepts a very strange job for the evening. The ten stories in this anthology bring to life the complex and ever-changing face of Rio de Janeiro behind the images of slums, carnivals and the sex trade. Featuring stories by award-winning, leading authors, screenwriters, journalists and playwrights, including 2013 International Emmy Award-winner, João Ximenes Braga.

The Book of Rio

Luiz Ruffato

Nei Lopes

Patricia Melo

Cesar Cardoso

Joao Gilberto Noll

Domingos Pellegrini

Sergio Sant'Anna

Marcelo Moutinho

Joao Ximenes Braga

Elvira Vigna

It’s the city the rest of the world descends on to party…. whether for the spectacular annual Carnival, the sun-kissed beaches, the World Cup, or, in 2016, the Olympics. It’s also a place that’s sadly become synonymous with some of the excesses of partying, the dark underbelly that accompanies any urban hedonist’s destination. But these are just two images of Rio. There are countless others: opulent seat of two former empires; stronghold of brutal, twentieth-century dictatorships; sprawling metropolis stretched between stunning mountain tops and equally stunningeconomic extremes – from the affluence of neighbourhoods like Leblon and Ipanema, to the overcrowded slums in the foothills, the favelas. This anthology brings together ten short stories that go beyond the postcards and snapshots, and introduce us to real residents of Rio – the cariocas: young hopefuls training to be the next stars of samba, exhausted labourers press-ganged into meeting an impossible construction deadline (the nation’s pride being at stake), bored call-girls, nostalgic drag queens, married couples having petty middle-class domestics…. These are characters who’ve developed a deep understanding of Rio’s contradictions, a way of living with the grey areas – between the grime and the glitz – that make Rio the ‘marvellous city’ it is.

A City in Short Fiction

Katie Slade

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