Author of ‘Mukani Discover Your Strength’ talks about her inspirations and how friendships influenced her work
Renata Tolli is a writer of Tupi-Guarani descent who fights to help society grow. 🇧🇷I consider myself a storyteller. I had the opportunity to launch a book, but I have 35 other short stories written. I haven’t published any yet, as I believe Mukani was a necessary agenda at that time. It’s such a personal project, it even reminds me of times when I was an activist and a punk, with a huge mohawk“, have fun.
The work “Mukani Discovers Your Strength” tells the story of a nine-year-old indigenous girl, who presents bravery and a lot of mystery wrapped in magic. ethnic origin Huni Kuinshe has the power to communicate with animals, plants and enchanted spirits Yuxibu, being the only person able to help the people of his village against Mr. Txakabu, the Lord of Evil.
But narrating this story was not simple, at least at the beginning. Renata had the help of two great friends on the journey: Virginia Gandres and Joaquim Maná🇧🇷 🇧🇷I have in my blood a history of more than 5000 years and I didn’t know how to tell any of this to my children. I felt ashamed. With the help of a friend I have at the United Nations, the incredible Moran Sol Broza, I was told to contact Virgínia, an archaeologist from Rio de Janeiro who specializes in indigenous tribes. She had just finished making a film/documentary called ‘Cantos da Terra’, in Acre, and that’s where we started building the project.”, reports.
Tolli lives in Israel, while Virgínia resides in the capital of Rio de Janeiro and Maná in Acre. With the pandemic, they only met in person at the book launch. 🇧🇷I saw them at the launch event, so any encounters we’ve had before have been remote. She in Rio, me in Tel Aviv and Maná in Rio Branco. I wanted to do something authentic, focused on kids. Joaquim, the leader of the Huni Kuin tribe, was a natural addition, because after I was introduced to him, I fell in love with his story of overcoming difficulties. He understood that education was a liberating experience, which made him evolve from a rubber tapper to a professor with a PhD in Linguistics.“, he counts.
Today, after years of work, Renata signals that she can dedicate herself to her career as a storyteller, without major distractions. 🇧🇷I’m in a social position where I can do this kind of action and I can dedicate myself to my writing career. I am privileged to contribute a positive message. Instead of buying a Louis Vuitton, I want to help society grow. There are people so empty that they make me believe that the greatest wealth is intellectual and not financial.”, he points out.
Mukani’s idea comes exactly from giving more internal richness to those who want to read its content. 🇧🇷The story was much longer than what was presented in the book, but we decided to compress it so that reading was dynamic for children. What also helped to shorten the story was the format of the three languages in one book. It was a condition of Maná, who wanted to tell all the mythology, but he wanted it to be able to be read in the language of his tribe as well. My eyes lit up so much when I imagined myself being able to take the indigenous language to the whole world through my work.”, she says proudly.
And the intention is that the heroine does not remain only in the literary pages. 🇧🇷My main goal is to turn the book into a movie and, who knows, into a virtual reality universe. We already have projects with soundtrack bands, with artists like Project 46 and Rafael Bittencourt participating“, reveals.
And ends with an important message. “ANDI think we all need imagination to go on living and fighting. A person’s imaginative capacity is something amazing and unique and should never be underestimated. I think it’s beautiful to be able to live on dreams, and when society stops believing in that, a little bit of each one of us dies. A superhero can be any one of us reaching out to others.”, he concludes.
Interview made by Marcos Flranke🇧🇷
João da S.Bueno Neto
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I am an experienced author and journalist with a passion for lifestyle journalism. I currently work for Buna Times, one of the leading news websites in the world. I specialize in writing stories about health, wellness, fashion, beauty, interior design, and more. My articles have been featured on major publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post.