Keynote Speakers
João Silvério Trevisan
João Silvério Trevisan is an LGBT rights activist, journalist, and novelist. In 1978, he founded the organization SOMOS, the first group for homosexual liberation in Brazil. In the 1970s, in spite of the struggles with the Brazilian dictatorship, he was also one of the founding editors of the Lampião da Esquina, the first newspaper focused on the LGBT community in the country, in which Leila Míccolis also collaborated. In 1982, Trevisan published the first edition of Devassos no Paraíso: a homossexualidade no Brasil, da colônia à atualidade (Perverts in Paradise), which is internationally celebrated as one of the most compelling studies about the history of homosexuality in Brazil. In 2018, the fourth edition of Devassos no Paraíso was published by Editora Objetiva as an updated and broader version. As an author, he has received multiple awards, including three Prêmio Jabuti (the highest Latin American literary honor) and three awards from the Association of Art Critics of São Paulo (APCA).
Sonia Guajajara
Sonia Guajajara is a Brazilian politician and activist of indigenous and environmental rights. She has served as the Executive Coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and has been instrumental in unifying more than 305 ethnicities around an agenda that protects indigenous rights. During the 2018 presidential election, she ran for Vice-President in the campaign with Guilherme Boulos, for the PSOL party. Guajajara has received several prestigious awards and honors; included among them are the Order of Cultural Merit from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, the Medal 18 de Janeiro by the Center for the Promotion of Citizenship and Human Rights Defenders Padre Josimo. In 2015, she was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Government of the State of Maranhão for her tireless work with governmental agencies during the fires in the indigenous territory of Araribóia.
Leila Míccolis
Leila Míccolis is an attorney, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy with a post-doctoral degree in Literary Sciences and Literary Theory from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), book author, playwright and screenwriter.