The Brazilian Academy of Letters announced on Sept. 22 that journalist and writer Zuenir Ventura had died at 95. Its notice said he died at home in Rio de Janeiro from pneumonia. Academy president Merval Pereira remembered a colleague who had worked as a reporter, editor and writer, led newsrooms, and mentored others.
Ventura’s path into journalism began well before he entered a newsroom. Born in 1931 in Além Paraíba, in Minas Gerais, he moved with his family at 11 to Nova Friburgo. His father painted houses, and Zuenir helped him while also taking jobs such as office boy. As a teenager, he earned a scholarship by teaching younger children. He later said he had once dreamed of becoming a teacher; that early classroom work stayed beside the reporting and writing that followed.
From an archive desk to the newsroom
At 20, Ventura moved to Rio to study Neolatin Letters at the University of Brazil, now the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. While in college, he began at Tribuna da Imprensa as an archivist. The Academy’s biography says he moved from the archive into the newsroom after the paper’s editor asked him to write about Albert Camus. The assignment marked his move from archive work to reporting.
Over the decades, Ventura worked as a reporter, international correspondent, editor and newsroom leader. He reported from Paris, edited international news at Correio da Manhã, and held senior roles at magazines including Fatos & Fotos, O Cruzeiro, Visão and Veja. He later worked at Jornal do Brasil and wrote as a columnist for O Globo. The range of those jobs gave him more than one vantage point: he could report a moment, help shape a newsroom and return to a subject in a longer form.
Books that carried history forward
In 1969, Ventura wrote a series about the 1960s for Editora Abril. One of his best-known books, “1968: O Ano que Não Terminou,” reached 48 editions and sold more than 400,000 copies, according to the Academy. The book later inspired the television miniseries “Anos Rebeldes.” It examined a consequential year in Brazil’s recent history, bringing the period’s political and cultural record to readers beyond the daily news cycle.
Another major work grew from Ventura’s reporting in Vigário Geral, a Rio neighborhood where a 1993 massacre killed 21 residents. His reporting followed life in the community during the months after the killings and became “Cidade Partida,” published in 1994. The book placed second in the reportage category at the 1995 Jabuti. He later wrote books including “Chico Mendes: Crime e Castigo” and “1968: O Que Fizemos de Nós.”
His reporting also followed the investigation into the killing of environmental leader Chico Mendes. In 1989, Ventura spent a month reporting in Acre for a Jornal do Brasil series with colleagues. The series received the Esso Journalism Award and the Vladimir Herzog award for human rights journalism. The Academy’s account notes that the reporting was produced with other journalists.
A career that stayed open to new forms
Ventura taught at universities, wrote for newspapers and magazines, and worked in film. He co-directed the documentary “Um Dia Qualquer” and wrote the screenplay for “Paulinho da Viola: Meu Tempo É Hoje.” The United Nations honored him in 2008 among five journalists recognized for contributions to human rights in Brazil over the previous three decades. In 2010, the Association of Foreign Correspondents named him journalist of the year.
The Brazilian Academy of Letters elected Ventura in 2014 to Chair 32, succeeding Ariano Suassuna. He took his seat in March 2015. At his death, Academy president Merval Pereira described him as a reporter and commentator, editor and writer, chief and mentor, professor and student. The list captures a career that did not settle into a single job title.
Ventura’s work connected the daily discipline of reporting with the patience of a teacher and the reach of a writer. He followed stories through archives, newsrooms, classrooms and books, then gave readers ways to encounter Brazil’s history again. His record is held in the papers he edited, the students he taught, colleagues he mentored and books that continued to find readers beyond the newsroom.
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