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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Mélissa Godin

‘Their vision needs to be shared’: the tiny shop championing the literature of the Amazon

‘I spent my life searching for these treasures’ … Joaquim Melo, owner of the Banca do Largo bookshop, Manaus.
‘I spent my life searching for these treasures’ … Joaquim Melo, owner of the Banca do Largo bookshop, Manaus. Photograph: Mélissa Godin

A small kiosk sits humbly next to Manaus Opera House, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Tucked below some trees, the shop is easy to walk past without noticing. But through its green glass doors lies the world’s largest collection of Amazonian literature: a treasure chest of forgotten cultures and ignored histories.

“It was always my dream to have a bookstore,” says Joaquim Melo, the 64-year-old owner of the Banca do Largo bookshop. “I’ve spent my life searching for these treasures.”

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