RW acontece – últimas notícias · RW Cast

Livro reúne contos que exploram afetos, arte e tensões sociais

December 30, 2025·20 min·1 clip

What if the ocean catches fire and snow falls in the sertão? Leonardo Gandellini's new book explores these contradictions.

The episode features an interview with Leonardo Gandellini, a journalist and writer, about his new book 'Carnaval em Abril, Contos de Amores e de Angústias'. Gandellini explains that the book contains 18 stories written between 2015 and 2024, touching on themes like art, affection, loneliness, and social tensions such as patriarchy. He shares that the idea began with encouragement from friends who read his journalistic articles and noted their personal mark. A key moment was when he wrote a chronicle during a traffic jam in São Paulo, which was published in the Globo newspaper and spurred his literary interest. The book originated from a blog launched in 2016, with stories updated to include factual events like the 2016 coup against President Dilma Rousseff. Gandellini sent the manuscript to five independent publishers, with three expressing interest, and he chose Minimalism, a two-year-old publisher based in Santo André. The conversation shifts to how literature adapts to modern attention spans dominated by social media and short videos. Gandellini mentions that Fernando Mitri, an 80-year-old journalist, wrote his entire book on a cell phone, showing adaptation to new formats. He believes the pandemic led many people to start writing as a form of catharsis. The book's title is inspired by the song 'Icy' by Chico Buarque and Francis Raime, with one story imagining a carnival in April, based on a real 1912 event when carnival was moved due to mourning. Other inspirations include a diary from a Potiguar man in 1950s Rio de Janeiro, which Gandellini used to create a story set during the Bossa Nova era. He cites influences from cinema directors like François Truffaut and Martin Scorsese, and writers like Rubem Fonseca and Machado de Assis. Gandellini discusses how his stories balance intimate topics like depression and mental health with broader social issues such as misogyny and the advance of the far right. He mentions belonging to a reading club called Non-Bentos, focused on deconstructing masculinity and patriarchy. The episode concludes with practical details: the book costs R$45, is sold on Minimalism's website, and Gandellini plans launch events in 2025.

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