Carolina Maria de Jesus

Carolina Maria de Jesus (14 March 1914 – 13 February 1977) was a Brazilian outskirts memoirist who lived most of her life as a slum-dweller. She is best known for her diary, published in August 1960 as Quarto de Despejo (lit. "Junk Room") after attracting the attention of a Brazilian journalist, which became a bestseller and won international acclaim. Appearing in English translation under the title Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus (US) or Beyond All Pity (UK), the work remains the only document published in English by a Brazilian slum-dweller of that period. De Jesus spent a significant part of her life in the Canindé favela in North São Paulo, supporting herself and three children as a scrap collector. Quarto de despejo did not stop at being an editorial success, it also spawned theatrical plays, musical compositions (some by de Jesus herself), illustrations and sayings, and is a source for both individual and collective artistic creations, especially by other...