Literary Workshops. Creative Writing. Contemporary Brazilian Literature. Professionalization of writers.

The thesis aims to analyze the relationship between the rise of literary workshops and the professionalization of writers in the contemporary Brazilian literary field. In the last few years, along with the rise of creative writing courses, it is noticeable the consolidation of a professional status for many Brazilian authors. In this context, literary workshops work both as a subsistence activity and as an instance of artistic literacy. For countless authors, socially recognized as professionals, paraliterary activities (literary workshops, lectures, fairs, etc.) represent their main source of income. In many aspects, it is possible to consider that the attributions of a professional writer, although centered on his writing, are not restricted to that, therefore it is pertinent to understand the reconfiguration of the literary occupation in this scenario. As a paraliterary activity, the coordination of workshops seems to fit the contemporary literary circuit in which writers are invited to perform and publicly expose their image. Based on this bias, the research focuses on the analysis of writers who coordinate workshops, looking how this activity helps them in the condition of professional authors. Similarly, the possible impacts of creative writing courses popularization in the contemporary Brazilian literary field are also analyzed, especially with authors whose successful insertion in literary life started in literary workshops, understood as a way of literacy and access to the literary career. In this regard, the success obtained by authors graduated from creative writing courses in some of the main national literary awards is noteworthy, whether in contests of manuscripts or as independent authors. Thus, the thesis aims to map a contemporary movement, somewhat restricted to the last twenty years, whose influence seems to be increasingly prevalent in the Brazilian literary field, presenting new ways of thinking about the idea of the writer's occupation in contemporary times. Methodologically, the research is based on the sociology of literature, observing the strategies of insertion and permanence of Brazilian writers in the contemporary literary field and its relationship with the rise of creative writing courses in this same scenario. For that it was performed field visits, interviews, and literature research.