AUTHOR ROSALIENE BACCHUS


Reaching minds and hearts through storytelling



INTOLERANCE BY BRAZILIAN POET JOÃO DOEDERLEIN @AKAPOETA



JOÃO DOEDERLEIN, writing under the pseudonym @akapoeta, is a bestselling poet, creative writer, and podcast host. Born in Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil, in 1996, João began writing poetry at eleven years old. At fourteen years, he started his first blog with his own texts. Then, two years later, he created an Instagram account where he shared his poems together with his own illustrations.


While studying Advertising and Publicity at the University of Brasília (2015-2020), Doederlein created the Resignifications project in which he attributes new meanings to words. Based on the personal experiences of his generation, the nineteen-year-old poet gave more weight to the objectivity of dictionaries with his poetic reinterpretations of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. In less than a year, his experiment spread across the internet, gaining thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram.


This success gave rise to Doederlein’s debut poetry collection, O Livro dos Ressignificados / The Book of Resignifications, published in 2017, becoming an instant bestseller with over 60,000 copies sold. The collection won the 2017 Highlight of the Year award from Livraria Saraiva, at the time a major Brazilian network of bookstores. Veja magazine—a leading Brazilian weekly publication, published in São Paulo—named the collection the #3 bestselling book in Brazil, remaining on the list for over fifteen weeks.


In the following years, Doederlein has released three more bestselling books, selling 300,000 books in Brazil and Europe. These books include:

  • Coracão-Granada / Garnet Heart (2018)
  • O Invisível aos Olhos: Textos de Amor Inspirados em O Pequeño Principe / Invisible to the Eyes: Love Texts Inspired by the Little Prince (HarperCollins Brazil, 2019), and
  • Para Ressignificar um Grande Amor / To Resignify a Great Love (2021).

As a professional in advertising and publicity, Doederlein has participated in campaigns for major Brazilian brands, such as Boticário, Bradesco, Gillette, Globo, Natura, and many others. A podcast host since December 2021, he lives in the city of São Paulo, São Paulo.


Photo shared by poet João Doederlein @akapoeta

Learn more and connect with the poet on Instagram.



INTOLERANCE BY JOÃO DOEDERLEIN @AKAPOETA



it's when you get too bothered by the

way he dresses and who he loves, for

whom she prays to and for whom they don't pray to.

it's when the discomfort turns into

violence (and not all violent acts are physical).

it happens at home. it happens at the metro station.

it's the weed at the foot of love. it's

a heart incapable of embracing. daughter of hate.


it's the word whose meaning only brings pain.




TRANSLATION BY ROSALIENE BACCHUS



INTOLERÂNCIA POR JOÃO DOEDERLEIN @AKAPOETA



é quando você se incomoda demais com a

forma como ele se veste e quem ele ama, para

quem ela reza e para quem eles deixam de

rezar. é quando o incômodo se torna

violência (e nem todo o ato violento é físico).

acontece dentro de casa. acontece na estação

do metrô. é a erva daninha no pé do amor. é

um coração incapaz de abraçar. filha do ódio.


é a palavra cujo significado só traz dor.


SOURCE: O Livro dos Ressignificados / The Book of Resignifications, Poetry Collection by João Doederlein @akapoeta, published by Paralela, Brazil, 2017.