Alina Paim facts for kids

Alina Paim (born October 10, 1919 – died March 1, 2011) was a famous writer from Brazil. She wrote novels for adults, stories for children, and was also a teacher. Alina was a strong supporter of women's rights and believed in communist ideas. She even translated books by Vladimir Lenin into Portuguese. People started to pay more attention to her writings again after 2007, when they found out she was still alive in Mato Grosso do Sul. Her books won important awards like the Antonio de Almeida Prize in 1961 and the Walmap Prize in 1965. Both awards were given by the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Biography

Alina de Andrade Leite was born in Estância, Sergipe, Brazil. Her parents were Manuel Vieira Leite and Maria Portela de Andrade Leite. When she was just three months old, her family moved to Salvador de Bahia. Her mother started teaching her to read and do math when Alina was about four years old.

When Alina was six, her mother passed away. She then went to live with her mother's sister, Laurinha, in Simão Dias. There, she went to primary school at Escola Menino Jesus. Alina stayed with her aunt for almost four years. Sadly, Laurinha also died just before Alina turned ten. After that, Alina was sent to a boarding school called Grupo Escolar Fasuto Cardoso. At this school, she studied many subjects like history, geography, science, and languages.

In 1932, Alina returned to Salvador de Bahia. She studied at the Colégio Nossa Senhora da Soledade (College of Our Lady of Solitude). She wrote her first stories for the school newspaper and graduated as a teacher. She taught until she married Isaias Paim, a medical doctor, on January 8, 1943. Right after their wedding, they moved to Rio de Janeiro. However, Alina could not teach there because her teaching diploma was not accepted.

The next year, she published her first novel, A Estrada da Liberdade (The Road of Liberty). This story was about a young teacher's first job. It showed how she was paid less than men doing the same work. It also explored how her job choices were limited to keep her "respectable." To learn more, she read books that were considered "rebellious." Like many of Alina's books, this one shared her thoughts on the lives of women. She saw her writing as "social realism," meaning it showed real-life social problems. Alina looked at the difficulties women faced and how their surroundings affected them.

Starting in 1945, Alina began writing for a children's radio show. For 16 years, she wrote for “No Reino da Alegria” (In the Realm of Joy). This show was part of the Ministry of Education and Culture and aired on MEC radio. During this time, she also wrote novels for adults. These books looked at different social situations. Her second book, Simão Dias, came out in 1949. Her third book, A sombra do patriarca (In the Shadow of Patriarchy), was published in 1950. This book was about a young woman who moved to a farm to get better from malaria. It explored differences between social classes, generations, and how the "patriarchy" (a system where men hold most of the power) affected women and men.

In 1955, Alina published A Hora Próxima. This book was about a workers' strike on the country's biggest railroad. The government tried to take action against her because of the book. However, the public group that was supposed to judge her book actually praised her. They said she had accurately described their experiences. The book was so important that it was translated into Chinese and Russian. Her book O Sol do Meio-Dia (1961) won the Antonio de Almeida Prize from the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1961. It was also translated into German and Bulgarian. Her Trilogia de Catarina (1964) won the Premio Walmap (Walmap Prize) in 1965.

In 1962, Alina started writing books for children. Her first children's books were O lenço encantado, A casa da coruja verde, and Luzbela vestida de cigana. These were followed by Flocos de algodão in 1966. The first three books had the same characters and were illustrated by Percy Deane. His artwork helped connect the stories. These stories used fantasy and magic to talk about change and the importance of imagination. Her last children's book was different. It was written for agricultural clubs and shared information about cotton. But it still encouraged imagination and curiosity. Alina's children's books were special because she treated child characters as equals, not just as people who had to obey adults. This was very unusual for her time.

When the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état happened, Alina went into hiding to avoid being sent away from the country. People thought she was in Cruzeiro, São Paulo, but she had left there three weeks before. Friends who supported her hid her for 23 days. She still faced problems because of her connections to the Brazilian Communist Party and her support for women's rights. She could not publish any new books until the 1979 Amnesty Law was passed. During the Brazilian military government (1964-1985), she translated texts by Vladimir Lenin. She also wrote articles for magazines like O Momento, Época, and Leitura.

In 1979, her book A Correnteza was published. In 1994, she published A Sétima Vez. In 2007, a group of writers were studying women writers from Sergipe. They were surprised to find out that Alina Paim had been living for many years in Campo Grande in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Her rediscovery led to a new appreciation of her important writings.

Selected works

Fiction

• A Estrada da Liberdade Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (1944) (in Portuguese)
• Simão Dias Livraria Editôra da Casa: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (1949) (in Portuguese)
• À Sombra do Patriarca Editôra Globo: Porto Alegre, Brazil. (1950) (in Portuguese)
• A Hora Próxima Editorial Vitória: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (1955) (in Portuguese)
• Čas blizok (translation of A Hora Próxima) Izd. inostrannoj lit: Moscow, Russia. (1957) (in Russian)
• 时候就要到了 (Shi hou jiu yao dao le: translation of A Hora Próxima) Ren min wen xue chu ban she: Beijing, China. (1959) (in Chinese)
• Sol do Meio-Dia Associação Brasileira do Livro: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (1961) (in Portuguese)
• Trilogia de Catarina ("O Sino e a Rosa", "A Chave do Mundo" and "O Círculo") Lidador: Rio de Janeiro. (1964) (in Portuguese)
• Mittagssonne (translation of Sol do Meio-Dia) Verl. Volk u. Welt: Berlin. (1968) (in German)
• A Correnteza Editora Record: Rio de Janeiro. (1979) (in Portuguese)
• A Sétima Vez Governo de Sergipe, Secretaria Especial da Cultura, Fundação Estadual de Cultura: Aracaju, Brazil. (1994) (in Portuguese)

Children's stories

• O Lenço Encantado Conquista: Rio de Janeiro. (1962) (in Portuguese)
• A Casa da Coruja Verde Conquista: Rio de Janeiro. (1962) (in Portuguese)
• Luzbela Vestida de Cigana Conquista: Rio de Janeiro. (1963) (in Portuguese)
• Flocos de Algodão Serviço de Informação Agricola: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (1966) (in Portuguese)

See also

In Spanish: Alina Paim para niños