The first class of the Literary Workshops of 2025, promoted by the Superior School of the Judges of the State of Tocantins (Esmat) in partnership with the Project and Contract Management Division of the Directorate of People Management (DIVPGC/DIGEP), began on Tuesday evening (April 22nd) with the mediation of Liziane Silva Cruz and a work of impact: Crooked Plow, by Itamar Vieira Junior, winner of the Jabuti Prize for Best Novel of 2020.
This is the first edition of the project to be open to the external community, with the participation of civil servers from the Public Defender's Office and the State Prosecution of Tocantins, as well as activists for social causes.
The narrative of Crooked Plow revolves around the sisters Bibiana and Belonísia, descendants of enslaved people, and it is set on the fictional Black Water (Água Negra) Farm - a dense representation of the Brazilian hinterland and its structures marked by inequalities, struggles and ancestry. Reading the book will be the starting point for reflections on racial, social and gender inequalities, which permeate both everyday life and the institutional structures of public work.
The activities of the Class I will take place in a hybrid format, with two more virtual meetings via Google Meet on April 29th and May 6th, from 7pm to 9pm. The class will end in person, with a cultural soiree scheduled for October 22nd, from 3pm to 5pm, at Esmat, featuring a performance by the Suça group from the quilombola community of Chapada da Natividade.
The pedagogical proposal of the Literary Workshops is to promote guided reflection on contemporary themes that permeate everyday life, social relations and the workplace, such as racial and social class inequalities, gender oppression and sexualities. The initiative is also sustainable: at the end of the project, the books used will be donated to prison libraries and social organizations.
The project is aligned with the guidelines of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), which aim to ensure dignity, equity and social inclusion within the Judiciary, in line with the 2030 Agenda of the UN, especially the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 - which seeks to promote fair, peaceful and inclusive societies.
The next class of the Literary Workshops will take place in June, with registrations to be announced soon on the Esmat website.