Controversial Cuban author, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, is the speaker at the next Braskem Frontiers of Thought 2008 on October 14, at 8pm Tuesday, at the Pinacoteca Auditorium, Praça da Luz, in São Paulo. The Frontiers of Thought program is promoted by Braskem in São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Salvador. It is comprised of an annual cycle of conferences with renowned personalities in national and international culture and sciences, leading to reflection on very current topics.

Visual artist and author of the Dirty Havana Trilogy (The King of Havana, The Insatiable Spiderman and The Snake Nest), Pedro Juan Gutiérrez is internationally renowned as one of the most talented authors of the new Latin American novel. Born in 1950, he began to write at the age of 18 when he realized literature was a privileged refuge. While he served the military, he cut sugarcane, worked with explosives and even practiced boxing. From a humble background, he was a farmer, civil construction worker, union leader, professor of technical design and radio actor.

Gutierrez also worked as a journalist in the 1980s, visiting countries like the Soviet Union and East Germany to cover stories for magazines, radio, TV, newspapers and Cuban news agencies. Over the past few years, he has dedicated himself to painting and writing, never abandoning downtown Havana, the city where he lives and his source of great inspiration.

Regarding the common labels his fiction receives - chauvinistic, pornographic, violent - Gutiérrez explains he merely portrays everyday reality. "I use the language of those who speak. My perspective is from common and simple people, the poorest and most vulgar population. These people cuss and use indecent language. They play with language; invent words, phrases and expressions. They violate grammar rules."

Ivan Marques, a PhD in Brazilian Literature and Professor at the University of São Paulo, will open the event and introduce the speaker. Marques was the director of the Entrelinhas program and editor-in-chief of the Metrópolis program, both on TV Cultura. At the same network, he made documentaries on literature, such as Diverse Verses: Today’s Poetry, Orides: One Step from the Bird and Assaré: The Hinterland of Poetry. He organized anthologies of short stories: Stories of Romanticism, Stories of Realism, Stories of Pre-Modernism and The Mirror and other Machado tales.

To make a reservation for the event, call (11) 5633-4741 or send and e-mail: fornteirasdopensamento@teleeventos.com.br.