Vento Norte Cartonero
The Vento Norte Cartonero project was created in 2013 by Maria Papelão Editora, in Santa Maria-RS (BR), as an alternative and independent space for publishing books with handcrafted covers, featuring both published and unpublished authors. It follows the same line as other cartoneras in Latin America, with Eloísa Cartonera—the first of its kind, established in 2003 in Buenos Aires—serving as the inspiration.
Over the years, several books by a variety of authors and genres have been published, while numerous workshops have been held in public schools with the aim of demonstrating the book creation process and demystifying it as a sacred and distant object. (Matinal Jornalismo, 2019)
Vento Norte Cartonero Logo
Vento Norte Cartonero Facebook | All Rights Reserved
“Gaudêncio Gaudério has been working in the cartonero universe since September 2013, when he created the publishing company Maria Papelão which became Vento Norte Cartonero in 2014. The organization serves two purposes: publishing books with handmade cardboard covers and hosting workshops to show a variety of people how to create a cartonero book. In March 2018 he organized the exhibition ‘O universo dos libros cartoneros’ [The Universe of Cartonera Books] for the National Library of Portugal, which included 69 publishers from 18 countries, visiting countless cities in Portugal and Spain.”
“Since April 2020, Gaudêncio has been a member of the Cartonera Multinational: a virtual forum that brings together people from several countries in the Americas to talk weekly about cartonero work and other artistic, cultural and community projects.” (Gaudêncio Gaudério Instagram, 2024)
Gaudêncio Gaudério
Vento Norte Cartonero Instagram | All Rights Reserved
“CARTONERA WORKSHOP IV: a record of the second part of the workshop we held with teenagers serving “socio-educational” sentences and studying at Humberto de Campos School – CASE (Santa Maria/Brazil); another fraternal and learning-filled gathering, thanks to the interest of the participants and the warm and supportive reception from the teacher Carla H. Flores and the teaching staff.”
“We would like to reiterate our gratitude to Liciane Brun for her interest and mediation in including the workshop(s) in the program of the 51st Santa Maria Book Fair!!!” (Gaudêncio Gaudério / Pedro Santos, 2024)
CARTONERA WORKSHOP IV
Vento Norte Cartonero Facebook | All Rights Reserved
The exhibit [The Universe of Cartonera Books], curated by the Vento Norte Cartonero project, featured over 100 cartonera books from 40 publishers across 14 countries and could be visited in the hall of the Fotogaleria Virgílio Calegari [Virgílio Calegari Photo Gallery] at the Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana [Mario Quintana House of Culture] during November 2019.
On Saturday (November 16), the Cartonera Book Workshop took place in the room of the Centro de Desenvolvimento da Expressão (CDE) [Center for the Development of Expression], with 20 spots available. (Matinal Jornalismo, 2019)