Cora Coralina’s bust by Aucione Torres Agostinho was dedicated in 1989 in a small park that bears her name in the city where she raised her six children. The plaque on the pedestal reads a quote from her poem Meu Epitafio: “Não morre aquele que deixou na terra a melodia de seu cântico na música de seus versos.” Born Ana Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto in the small town of Goiás in 1889, she chose her pen name Cora Coralina, meaning “red heart,” at age 14 when she began writing poetry. Though she recognized her poetic calling from a young age, Cora deferred her creative ambitions at 21 to marry, move to São Paulo, and raise her six children while working as a baker and confectioner. It was not until she was a widow in her late 60s that Cora returned to her family home in Goiás to begin a new life solely devoted to poetry, supporting herself by selling baked goods. Her simple yet profoundly lyrical debut poetry collection ‘Poemas dos Becos de Goiás e Estórias Mais’ was published in 1965 when she was 75 years old. Drawing inspiration from ordinary people, the cultural mix, and the harsh beauty of Brazil, Cora’s verse elevated the everyday through vivid snapshots of life’s struggles, joys, and hard-won wisdom filtered through a feminist lens. Her unique authenticity and skill at rendering the human experience into resonant yet accessible free poetry transcended technical flaws, earning her popularity and admiration for Brazil’s greatest poets, including Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Until she died in 1985 at age 95, Cora remained devoted to her poetry, chronicling life’s simplicities and profundities through an empathetic, feminist, and quintessentially Brazilian lens. Read more...

Four years after her death and on what would have been her 100th birthday, on August 20th, 1989, the Cora Coralina House Museum was opened to the public, celebrating the life and legacy of the prominent Brazilian poetess Ana Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto Bretas, known by her pseudonym Cora Coralina. Born on August 20th, 1889, Ana grew up in this house by the river, owned by her family since 1825. She attended school only till the third grade and started writing stories and poetry in her teenage years; only in her mid-seventies did she publish her first book of poetry ‘Poemas dos Becos de Goiás e Estórias Mais’ under the pseudonym Cora Coralina, a nickname she came up with as a teenager. This long-awaited debut followed decades of raising six children in São Paulo while working as a baker and confectioner. After her husband’s death, 50-year-old Cora underwent an empowering “loss of fear,” found renewed inspiration, and wrote poetry. Her lyrics wove together the country’s diverse cultural influences, giving poetic voice to ordinary women, Afro-Brazilian rituals, and the vibrant mythologies of her childhood home, which served as her muse. Her powerful, authentic narratives brought her great popularity and acclaim, including the Ana Néri Medal from the Brazilian Society of Education and Integration in São Paulo in 1977, the Order of Merit Anhanguera was awarded to her by the Government of the State of Goiás, and being named the Brazilian Writers Union’s “Literary Personality of the Year” in 1984. Several months after Cora passed away in 1985, relatives and friends founded the Cora Coralina’s House Association (Associação Casa de Cora Coralina) and the Cora Coralina’s House Museum (Museu Casa de Cora Coralina) aiming to preserve, educate and celebrate the the life and work of Cora Coralina. The family donated many items for the collection, including personal objects, household utensils, books, furniture, manuscripts, typescripts, newspapers, photos, and letters. The museum offers guided tours and a research library and organizes special events. Outside the museum stands a bust of Cora. A copy of this bust stands in São Paulo. The historic center of the city of Goiás is one of the 23 World Heritage Sites in Brazil, and Cora Coralina’s House Museum is the most visited destination in Goiás. Read more...

Carved into a side of a hill in the Botanical-Artistic Park is a sculpture of larger-than-life red vulva, designed by the Brazilian visual artist Juliana Notari, who named it Diva. Notari designed this statue when she was a resident of the Art Power Plant, a culture center on the land where the Santa Terezinha sugarcane mill operated 1940-1990. The deserted mill, the history of slavery, and the conflict between the indigenous people and colonialism created scars and wounds in the land. She decided to showcase this wound in her art and raise the awareness of “the problematization of gender from a female perspective.” It took almost 11 months and more than 20 people to create the statue, carve it into the hill, connect it with nature and into the earth. After it was ready on 2020 New Year’s Eve, it immediately sparked controversy between conservatives who hated it and liberals who adored and embraced it. In a coincidence, it was a day after the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, vowed that he would never legalize abortion in Brazil. Notari is one of the few female artists showcasing her work in the park. Read more...