‘Tucumã’: Indigenous writer from AP is inspired by Amazon to write book of children’s poetry

Marcela Leiros – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “‘Tucumã’ is a poetic dive in the Amazon, through birds, fish, food and legends, permeated with the memories and recollections of my grandmother”. This is how the indigenous writer Lucia Morais Tucuju, from the Kumarumã village, in Macapá (AP), speaks fondly of the book “Tucumã”. The work of children’s poetry inspired by the Amazon is a poetic reading, which rescues origins and speaks of ancestry. To CENARIUM, the storyteller, poet and actress talked about the inspiration for the work, which has the purpose of keeping alive the indigenous culture and the culture of the North Region.

“I had the goal of writing this book for children. In fact, it is a book that enchants everyone, adults and elderly, everyone is enchanted. But my real focus, when I wrote it, was to show children, in general, especially those from the South and Southeast, the indigenous culture, the culture of the North, the culture of the Amazon, the words, birds, animals, foods, vocabulary”, she explains, who has lived in Rio de Janeiro for 22 years.

The book was released last February 21st, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and has a preface by Daniel Munduruku. It has poems that speak of the legends of the North, such as Matinta Pereira, which speaks of the movements of nature, such as the piracema, and others that speak of animals, such as the bem-te-vi, the tucunaré, and the piaba.

“So, my idea is not to let it die, in my own way, in my own way, to spread this culture that is so beautiful, so rich, so diverse. All children need to know at least a little bit about it. The idea is for the teachers to present it to the teachers, and for them to present it to their students”, says Lucia Tucuju.

Why “Tucumã”?

Tucumã is the fruit of an Amazon palm tree, with a sticky, fibrous pulp. Lucia Morais Tucuju says that the reason for naming the work after the fruit is because tucumã represents, for her, “strength and mystery”.

“Tucumã is a fruit that I identify with, it is part of my childhood, I used to play bole-bole with the tucumã stone, there is the matter of the rings that grandma used to make with the tucumã stone. But even so, the tucumã stone gives me strength, mystery, stories that are unraveled, stories that are revealed”, she says.

The writer

Besides being a storyteller, poet, and actress, Lucia Tucuju is also a psychopedagogue, teacher, reading mediator, and member of the International Academy of Letters of Brazil. She is a specialist in children’s literature, a post-graduate professor in Ethnic-Racial Literature and Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous Studies, and also a lecturer and researcher of indigenous culture and literature.

Together with her friend Arlene Costa, Lucia Morais Tucuju created, in 2009, the Pequenalegria project, to bring reading and knowledge to public schools, open fairs, and communities.