Alina Paim

Alina Paim (10 October 1919 – 1 March 2011) was a Brazilian novelist, author of children's literature and teacher. She was a communist and women's rights activist who translated Lenin's works into Portuguese. A re-evaluation of her contributions to Brazilian literature has emerged since 2007, when Paim was discovered to still be living in Mato Grosso do Sul. Her works were honored by the Antonio de Almeida Prize in 1961 and the Walmap Prize in 1965, both given by the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Biography Alina de Andrade Leite was born in Estância, Sergipe, Brazil to Manuel Vieira Leite and Maria Portela de Andrade Leite. When she was three months old, her family moved to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Her mother began teaching her to read and do math when she was around four years old. When Leite was six years old, her mother died and she went to live with her mother's sister, Laurinha, in Simão Dias, where she attended primary school at Escola Menino Jesus.

Beginning in 1945, and for the next 16 years, Paim began to write for a children's program for the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Her publication in 1955 of A Hora Próxima caused an arrest warrant to be issued for her. The book was about the workers' strike on the largest railroad in the country. The government's case against her collapsed when the public group supposed to weigh her recompense for the book's sedition, praised her for accurately telling of their experiences. The communist party had the book translated into both Chinese and Russian. O Sol do Meio-Dia (1961) won the Antonio de Almeida Prize of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) in 1961 and was translated into German and Bulgarian.

In 1962, she began publishing children's literature. O lenço encantado, A casa da coruja verde and Luzbela vestida de cigana were followed in 1966 by Flocos de algodão. The first three volumes share the same characters, and the illustrator, Percy Deane whose work on all three volumes further tied them together. The stories use fantasy and magic to discuss themes of transformation, change and the importance of imagination. Her last children's book was different from the others, but it was written for the Agricultural Clubs of the Ministry of Education. It disseminates information about cotton, but still reiterates the theme of imagination and intellectual curiosity. While the volumes reinforce cultural beliefs, behaviors, and values, Paim did not treat her child characters as subservient to adults, but rather as peers, which was extremely unusual for the era.

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) (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)