One of the highlights of Jeremy’s recent trip to Brazil was meeting Professor Laura Izarra, a professor of literature at the University of Sao Paulo’s School of Communication and Art. Professor Izarra coordinates USP’s WB Yeats Chair of Irish Studies and is a former president of the Brazilian Association of Irish Studies. A preoccupation with Ireland is evident in all her publications, including her doctoral thesis on aesthetic synthesis in the works of John Banville and a work on British imperialist turned Irish rebel Roger Casement. Jeremy was honoured to meet her, and discover more about the fantastic work undertaken by the school of communication’s department of Irish studies (‘Abertura da Cátedra de Estudos Irlandeses W. B. Yeats).
The school hosts an annual series of Irish-themed lectures every St Patrick’s Day, which have been delivered by some of the European country’s most distinguished academics and cultural luminaries; the 2022 lectures were delivered by, among others, professors Declan Kiberd and Eunan O’Halpin. The lectures are subsequently published in luxurious hardback, and embossed with fittingly Yeatsian stylisation and calligraphy. Impressively, the lectures are published in bilingual form, English and Portuguese.
Jeremy discussed with Laura how JM Agency could assist the USP School of Communications and Art, including providing our premium manuscript appraisal services for students and staff, as well as assisting the school bring their exemplary publications to a wider audience through effective marketing and distribution. Jeremy described his visit to USP as a ‘deep honour’. The university is Latin America’s most prestigious institute of higher learning, if the Times Higher Education University Rankings are to be believed.
Jeremy’s meeting with Laura was organised by JM Agency client Dr Heloisa Prieto. Ireland is similarly one of Dr Prieto’s most enduring preoccupations, with the country featuring in several of her YA and children’s books, both obliquely, in how she draws imaginatively from Celtic mythology, but also more directly, such as in Vijantes do Vento (published by Editora Estrela in 2019).