The "Silogeu" was a building in the center of Rio where ABL was located for some time in the beginning of the 20th century

Academia Brasileira de Letras, or Brazilian Academy of Letters is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century by a group of 40 writers and poets inspired by the Académie Française. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on the December 15th, 1896, but the statutes were only passed on the January 28th, 1897 and on the July 20th of the same year the Academy was established. The Brazilian Academy of Letters is, according to its statutes, the authority on the "national language" of Brazil (Portuguese language). It is composed to this day of 40 members, known as "immortals", chosen among citizens of Brazil who have published recognized works or books of literary value. The position of "immortal" is awarded for lifetime. A new member is admitted by votation by the Academy members when one of the "chairs" become vacant. The chairs are numbered and have the names of their first incumbents. The academicians use formal gala gilded uniforms with sword (which is named "fardão") when participating in official meetings of the Academy. During periods of dictatorship and military régime, the Academy's neutrality in choosing proper members dedicated to the literary profession was stained by electing politicians with few or null contributions to the letters, such as ex-president Getúlio Vargas. One exception to this is former Brazilian president and senator José Sarney, who is a well published and incensed regional novelist on his own. The Academy, which was a purely male affair until the groundbreaking election of novelist Rachel de Queiroz in 1977 for chair No. 5, has now three women members (less than 10%, though), but one of them, Nelida Piñon, became a president in 1996. Image File history File links Silogeu. ... Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Poets are authors of poems. ... The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (June 21, 1839 - September 29, 1908) was a Brazilian realist novelist, poet and short-story writer born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ... December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... Portuguese (Português) is a Romance language predominantly spoken in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macao Special Administrative Region of China, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. ... Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually one dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state. ... Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (April 19, 1882 - August 24, 1954) was the president of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and from 1950 to his suicide in 1954. ... José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa (born April 24, 1930, in Pinheiro, Maranhão) served as president of the Federative Republic of Brazil from March 15, 1985 to March 15, 1990. ...

The Academy, thanks to sound management and good revenues in excess of 4 million dollars a year, is well off financially. It owns a skycraper with 28 floors (Palácio Austregésilo de Athaide), in a valued area in the center of Rio, which the Academy rents for office space, generating 70% of its current revenue. The rest comes from rental of other buildings, which were legated by book editor Francisco Alves, in 1917, and from financial investments. This comfortable situation allows for paying a "jeton" to each academician. The ABL is located just by its side, in a beautiful neoclassical building, which is named "Petit Trianon". It was donated by the government of France in 1923 and is so named because it is a copy of the Petit Trianon palace in Versailles, near Paris, France. Jetons were a token or coin-like medal produced across Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... The Petit Trianon, Versailles The Petit Trianon, situated at a short distance from the Grand Trianon, was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel by order of Louis XV for his second wife, Madame de Pompadour, and was constructed between 1762-1768. ... Versailles in 1789. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

It has recently inaugurated one of the largest public libraries in Rio, with 90,000 volumes and a huge multimedia center. Librarians and patrons in a typical larger urban public library A public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is often operated by civil servants and funded from public sources. ... Multimedia is the use of several different media to convey information (text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity). ...

The Academy awards annually several literary prizes: the Prêmio Machado de Assis (the most important literature prize in the country, awarded for lifework), and the ABL prizes for poetry, for fiction and drama, for essays, critic and history of the literature, and for children's literature. In 2005 the Afonso Arino de Mello Franco Prize was also established.

Original Patrons

1. Adelino Fontoura
2. Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo
3. Artur de Oliveira
4. José Basílio da Gama
5. Bernardo Guimarães
6. Casimiro de Abreu
7. Castro Alves
8. Cláudio Manoel da Costa
9. Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães
10. Evaristo da Veiga
11. Fagundes Varela
12. Joaquim José França Júnior
13. Francisco Otaviano
14. Franklin Távora
15. Antônio Gonçalves Dias
16. Gregório de Matos
17. Hipólito da Costa
18. João Francisco Lisboa
19. Joaquim Caetano da Silva
20. Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
21. Joaquim Serra
22. José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva
23. José de Alencar
24. Júlio Ribeiro
25. Junqueira Freire
26. Laurindo Rabelo
27. Maciel Monteiro
28. Manuel Antônio de Almeida
29. Martins Pena
30. Pardal Mallet
31. Pedro Luís
32. Araújo Porto-Alegre
33. Raul Pompéia
34. Sousa Caldas
35. Tavares Bastos
36. Teófilo Dias
37. Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga
38. Tobias Barreto
39. Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen
40. Visconde do Rio Branco

Antônio de Castro Alves, more commonly known as Castro Alves, was born on March 14, 1847, in the town of Cachoeira, Bahia, Brazil. ... Antônio Gonçalves Dias (1823–1864), was a Brazilian lyric poet. ... José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva (June 13, 1763 – April 6, 1838), Brazilian statesman and naturalist, was born at Santos, São Paulo. ... José de Alencar (May 1, 1829—December 12, 1877), was a Brazilian novelist. ... Raul Pompéia was a Brazilian writer, who was born and died in Rio de Janeiro (1863-1895). ... Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga (1744-1809), Portuguese poet, was a native of Oporto and the son of a Brazilian-born judge. ... Visconde do Rio Branco is a Brazilian city in the state of Minas Gerais. ...

Presidents of ABL

• Machado de Assis 1897-1908
• Rui Barbosa 1908-1919
• Domício da Gama 1919-1919
• Carlos de Laet 1919-1922
• Afrânio Peixoto 1922-1923
• Medeiros e Albuquerque 1923-1923
• Afrânio Peixoto 1923-1924
• Afonso Celso 1925-1925
• Coelho Neto 1926-1926
• Rodrigo Otávio 1927-1927
• Augusto de Lima 1928-1928
• Fernando Magalhães 1929-1929
• Aloisio de Castro 1930-1930
• Fernando Magalhães 1931-1932
• Gustavo Barroso 1932-1933
• Ramiz Galvão 1933-1934
• Afonso Celso 1935-1935
• Laudelino Freire 1936-1936
• Ataulfo de Paiva 1937-1937
• Cláudio de Souza 1938-1938
• Antônio Austregésilo 1939-1939
• Celso Vieira 1940-1940
• Levi Carneiro 1941-1941
• Macedo Sorares 1942-1943
• Múcio Leão 1944-1944
• Pedro Calmon 1945-1945
• Cláudio de Sousa 1946-1946
• João Neves da Fontoura 1947-1947
• Adelmar Tavares 1948-1948
• Miguel Osório de Almeida 1949-1949
• Gustavo Barroso 1950-1950
• Aloisio de Castro 1951-1951
• Aníbal Freire da Fonseca 1952-1952
• Barbosa Lima Sobrinho 1953-1954
• Rodrigo Otávio Filho 1955-1955
• Peregrino Júnior 1956-1957
• Elmano Cardim 1958-1958
• Austregésilo de Athayde 1959-1993
• Abgar Renault 1993-1993
• Josué Montello 1993-1995
• Antônio Houaiss 1995-1996
• Nélida Piñon 1996-1997
• Arnaldo Niskier 1997-1999
• Tarcísio Padilha 2000-2002
• Alberto da Costa e Silva 2002-2004
• Ivan Junqueira 2004-

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (June 21, 1839 - September 29, 1908) was a Brazilian realist novelist, poet and short-story writer born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ... Rui Barbosa de Oliveira was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, on the 5th of November 1849, and died in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the 1st of March 1923. ... Augusto de Lima - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

Current members

The members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (July of 2005): 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Ana Maria Machado
• Tarcísio Padilha
• Carlos Heitor Cony
• Carlos Nejar
• José Murilo de Carvalho
• Cícero Sandroni
• Sergio Corrêa da Costa
• Antonio Olinto
• Alberto da Costa e Silva
• Lêdo Ivo
• Hélio Jaguaribe
• Alfredo Bosi
• Sergio Paulo Rouanet
• Miguel Reale
• Padre Fernando Bastos de Ávila
• Lygia Fagundes Telles
• Affonso Arinos de M. Franco
• Arnaldo Niskier
• Antonio Carlos Secchin
• Murilo Melo Filho
• Paulo Coelho
• Ivo Pitanguy
• Zélia Gattai
• Sábato Magaldi
• Alberto Venancio Filho
• Marcos Vinicios Rodrigues Vilaça
• Eduardo Portella
• Oscar Dias Corrêa
• Josué Montello
• Nélida Piñon
• Moacyr Scliar
• Ariano Suassuna
• Evanildo Bechara
• João Ubaldo Ribeiro
• Candido Antonio Mendes de Almeida
• João de Scantimburgo
• Ivan Junqueira
• José Sarney
• Marco Maciel
• Evaristo de Moraes Filho

Lygia Fagundes Telles (1923- ) is a Brazilian novelist and short-story writer. ... Paulo Coelho (born August 24, 1947) is a famous Brazilian lyricist and novelist. ... Ivo Pitanguy (b. ... Zélia Gattai is Brazilian photographer, writer of adult biography and childrens literature, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. ... Moacyr Jaime Scliar, a Brazilian writer and physician, was born in the Jewish quarter of Porto Alegre, in the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in 1937. ... José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa (born April 24, 1930, in Pinheiro, Maranhão) served as president of the Federative Republic of Brazil from March 15, 1985 to March 15, 1990. ...

Gallery of the Immortals

• Machado de Assis
• Jorge Amado
• José Guilherme Merquior
• Tobias Barreto de Meneses

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (June 21, 1839 - September 29, 1908) was a Brazilian realist novelist, poet and short-story writer born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ... Jorge Amado de Faria (August 10, 1912 РAugust 6, 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the Modernist school. ... Jos̩ Guilherme Merquior (Rio de Janeiro 22 April 1941 - 1991) , was a Brazilian diplomat, academic, writer, literary critic and philosopher. ...

See also

• Academia Brasileira de Letras (Portuguese)