Ecio Salles

To our partner and friend, the masterful Ecio Salles

The poet, cultural producer, and partner of ours in so many undertakings, has left us prematurely. Born in the Olaria neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Salles made the peripheries of this urban metropolis the territory for his poetic invention. As a creator and mobilizer of words and love, Salles masterfully brought prose and poetry from the peripheries to the center of Brazilian literature. In 2000, Salles launched Tramas Urbanas (Urban Plots), the editorial label under which he would publish Poesia Revoltada (Angry Poetry) and História e Memória de Vigário Geral (The History and Memory of Vigário Geral), demonstrating the potency of the subjects of the periphery and their ability to produce quality, daring work. Salles’ made countless contributions to civil society organizations as well as public initiatives. The Literary Festival of the Peripheries (FLUP),^[1]even at its inception, took on the challenges of inventive narratives and their task of disputing the imaginary, showcasing stories of being and living in a metropolis rife with social and racial structural inequality and its direct consequences for popular territories. Uniting roundtable discussions, poetry, books, and people, the FLUP treated the favelas as the reference for sensitivity, beauty, and aesthetic creation that they truly are. Ecio, the poets take their hats off to you.

Here, at the International University of the Peripheries (UNIperiferias), with care, attention, and creativity, Salles made decisive contributions to this publication, Peripheries Journal. For that, and for so much more, we thank him.

Beyond his intellectual gifts, Salles’ journey with us was one of friendship and love cultivated in smiles and embraces. Now, he has left us. This partner, poet, and friend has left us. But he also left us an open path, urging us to build a more generous society and a more poetic city.

Friends and partners of Peripheries Journal,
UNIperiferias — Instituto Maria e João Aleixo