1. A U T H O R S
O F T H E F U T U R E
C R E AT I N G S T O R I E S T H AT C H A N G E S L I V E S
2. T H E B E G I N N I N G
• 10 underprivileged kids between the
ages of 7 and 11 years old
• A social program “Casa da
Santíssima”
• A writer trying and failing to engage
kids telling stories
• The insight: why cast kids as
spectators when they can become
authors instead
3. Kids spent half the day at Casa da
Santíssima and the other half at
school. Only two or three of them had
a mother and a father present. Most of
these kids had one or both parents
either dead or involved with drugs.
They all had tough backgrounds and
wouldn’t sit still while I told them
stories. The picture bellow is just a
fortunate coincidence. Believe me!
4. As a 47 years old
author of 14 children’s
books, I know it all
starts with the very
first one. Thus I
challenged them to
also write a book and
convinced them that
they could do so.
T H E C H A L L E N G E
They resisted at first
but at the end they
said yes.
10 + 1 authors
creating a story
together. They would
create it, I'd write it,
they'd approve it (or
not) and we'd work
until the book was
done.
In a 10 weeks time
we had the final
text.
1 2 3 4
5. T H E P R O C E S S
After I had my 10
answers I would put
them together on a
blackboard and tell
them: that’s the basis of
your story, let’s write it.
I would ask each one,
individually, a question.
In secret they would
name an animal, a place,
a villain, a personality
trait.
6. T H E P R O C E S S
After that they
would
brainstorm,
suggest what
would happen
next.
They would
vote and decide
the next step of
the story.
I would take it
home, write it
down and in the
following week
they would OK it
or not.
And that’s
where the
magic was.
7. They learned
something about
democracy: dealing
with their ideas not
winning, making
alliances,
respecting the
opinions of others.
They learned to
better articulate
their opinions,
present and sell
their ideas to the
group, no matter
how shy or quiet
they were.
A self-esteem
burst was visible.
They learned about
the power of a
creative process.
L E S S O N S
L E A R N E D
( A F E W O F T H E M )
8.
9. T H E B O O K
In the same collective spirit in which the story was created, we requested via
social media illustrators to donate their work towards this project.
Each illustrator gave us one page, so the book had an amazing diversity of
styles.
Professionals from all over the country offered to join in but we also
recruited a few non-professionals that felt passionate for the cause.
10. Collectively written and illustrated, it was also collectively funded.
Through the Kickante platform we gathered enough money for two
thousand copies.
One thousand copies were distributed freely for other kids in the
same situation. The other thousand were sold to keep Casa da
Santíssima alive.
T H E B O O K
11. T H E R E P E R C U S S I O N
The kids and the book were
mentioned in the most
relevant newspapers and
websites in our region.
They were invited to
radio shows.
They did book signings at
their school and at
bookstores. All of them big
hits!
13. T H E F O L L O W I N G S T E P S
We coached Child
Fund Brazil’s team for
two days and after
that they applied the
technique to children
from poor cities all
over Brazil.
Child Fund (https://
www.childfund.org/), an
80 years old
organisation, active in
more than 20 countries,
invited us to apply
Authors of the Future at
their 50th anniversary in
Brazil celebration.
Right now two
other “Authors of
the Future”
processes are in
motion.
17. I’d like to talk at SxSW about the success of Authors of The
Future in Brazil and how it makes a transformative impact on
children's lives. The process can be replicated at any place in
the world and shows how creating and writing together can be
a starting point to form kids’s ability to be more articulated,
capable of respecting others opinions, expressing their voices,
being more secure and participative. I really believe this could
be a significant opportunity for children all over the world, but
specially in developing countries.
T H E C O N C L U S I O N
