Velia Vidal, a voice that breaks the oblivion and abandonment of Chocó, is the protagonist of “Leer el Pacífico”, a program of the Bank of the Republic that seeks to promote interest in reading among children and young people from different institutions schools of the Colombian coast
The writer and cultural manager from Choco is one of the most influential women in the world, according to the BBC. She is also the creator of the Chocó Reading and Writing Festival, Flecho.
Although in her homeland, Quibdó, she is “Seño Velia”, for all Colombians she is an example to follow and a voice in the fight for literacy on the Pacific Coast.
He is currently in London working on his next book. From there she paused to talk via phone with THE NEW CENTURY about his literary projects and his most recent book, “Chocó, selva, lluvia, río y mar”.
EL NUEVO SIGLO: What is “Reading the Pacific” about, what is its focus?
VELIA SAW: This program has been going on for about eight years and its objective is to promote the reading of authors from our region. Every year there is an author selected and this time it was my turn. The purpose is to take his work to the branches of the Bank of the Republic so that people have access to those readings. There have been great writers such as Alfredo Vanín Romero, Mary Grueso Romero, César Rivas Lara, Pilar Quintana, María Teresa Ramírez, among others. This year I am fortunate and privileged to be selected to read the Pacific.
ENS: Your latest book, “Chocó, selva, lluvia, río y mar”, was recently released at FILBo. What is the approach?
VV: The pre-launch was made at the Fair and by the end of June it will be in all bookstores in the country. This book was made with the publishing house Lazo Libros, with the illustration of Geraldine Ramírez. It is an informative text for children, which talks about the geographical Chocó, it is focused so that children can understand why Chocó is so important for the planet, it talks about its wealth, biodiversity, the water network, the importance of water that there it is produced for everyone; what is a flow, what are the most important rivers, why does it rain so much.
ENS: Based on your experience, how do you get people to turn their gaze to the regions, to the Colombian roots?
VV: Obviously Colombia is a very centralist country, from the center they look down on the coastal regions, such as the Pacific and the Caribbean, in addition to the fact that the regions are considered isolated, such as the Llanos, the Amazon, the border areas, populations that have also had a abandonment and there is a very high lack of knowledge of the center of the country towards the different regions. I believe that literature is a way to establish new dialogues that allow people from the center of the country to be more interested in learning about the rest of the nation. And that it can do it through different stories, from different voices that narrate these regions. Undoubtedly, in terms of politics and public management, there is a lot of work to be done, we need more presence of authors from regions to make them known. For example, we know that publishers are concentrated in Bogotá and some in Medellín, but they are still few compared to what is produced in the capital and the authors are also from the center and that is why initiatives such as “Leer el Pacífico” are so important. , just as we must know the Caribbean and other regions of the country.
ENS: During your career as a cultural manager, has it been difficult to manage these isolated regions with great needs?
VV: Management is definitely difficult anywhere, but it all depends on how one looks at it, whether in Bogotá, on the Pacific or on the Colombian coast, there will always be difficulties, some deeper than others. For me, beyond saying it’s not easy, what I feel is that many variables intersect with problems of all kinds. The difficulties obviously intersect more in the regions due to all the problems they have.
ENS: What did it mean to you to be recognized as one of the most influential women in the world?
VV: That was for me like an encouragement, a hug, a recognition for what we have been doing with so much affection, with such dedication, affection, and in the midst of so many aggravating circumstances, it is worth being recognized by the world and I think it was a hug of encouragement, because it is Sometimes you need to be told that what you are doing makes sense, you are on the right track and that is highly valued. For me it was very impressive to ask myself what it means to be influential and to realize that if we do work that influences the lives of many families who in one way or another could not access reading, to have encounters with others through the books, that’s what it meant to me.
ENS: How do you define the Pacific that saw you born and grow?
VV: The Pacific is life in the first place, because I am the sea, but I am also a region with its jungles, its ethnic and cultural biodiversity that is part of my essence and my genetics, my way of seeing the world. I feel that the Pacific is that way of inhabiting the world, of relating to others, and it is built by our Afro roots and our direct and permanent relationship with indigenous culture and with nature. Beyond building a romantic vision, it is a way of inhabiting the world that has led us to think in community, to think collectively. Surviving in a tropical rainforest is only possible if you do it with others and with an awareness of the environment.
ENS: What is this literary project you are concentrating on in London?
VV: I’m in London because I was a finalist for the Eccles Prize for Literature, which is awarded by the British Library and the Hay Festival. The main reason for this support is to give the writers inputs for a project. I have spent almost two years doing research on the objects that were brought from America, such as sounds and photographs of the Chocó, of the San Juan river and that are in the British Museum of the Library and in the University of Oxford, to write a book that It is called “Tributaries”, in which it is intended to collect my perspective on European travelers who have gone to our country in other times and have brought these objects.