Meeting “Evoking Branquinho da Fonseca: The Man and the Work”
This meeting, organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of António José Branquinho da Fonseca, will evoke the career of a major figure in Portuguese culture, who deeply loved books, leaving a legacy in literature, but also in the promotion of reading in Portugal. He dedicated himself to poetry, the short story, the novel, the novella and the dramatic text, and was also interested in photography, drawing and even graphic design. However, his best-known project, which thousands of Portuguese still treasure today, was the pioneering itinerant library that he designed and tested in Cascais in 1953 and replicated throughout the country from 1958 onwards, at the service of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
It is to his history and the memories he generated, but above all to his legacy, which is constantly being readapted and is therefore increasingly alive and useful to society, that this meeting is dedicated. It will highlight Branquinho da Fonseca's contribution to the decentralization and democratization of access to culture, based on free access, home loans and free services.
Registration is free but compulsory.
Sign up:HERE
Organization: BAD in collaboration with Cascais City Council | Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
14h00
Opening Ceremony
Ana Alves Pereira | BAD - Portuguese Association of Librarians, Archivists, Information and Documentation Professionals
Representative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
14h20
“Journeys: Better one bird flying than two in the hand”
Maria Mota Almeida | Estoril School of Hospitality and Tourism - IHC - NOVA FCSH; IN2PAST
Luís Branquinho | Familiar
14h40
A brilliant idea
Ana Paula Gordo and Maria Helena Borges | Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
15h00
Truck No. 18
Carlos Marta | ADFP Foundation
15h20
The Branquinho da Fonseca Archive: Preserving to share on a network
João Miguel Henriques | Cascais City Council
15h40
The exhibition “Uma vida a Fazer Ler”: From conception to itinerancy
Teresa Branquinho | Branquinho da Fonseca Municipal Library - Mortágua
15h50
Coffee break, with a visit to the exhibition “A Life to Make Read”
16h20
Conversations around the work of Branquinho da Fonseca | Moderated by Luís Branquinho
António Manuel Ferreira | University of Aveiro
Edgar Pêra | Filmmaker
17h00
Closing session
Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins | Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation