Jean Wyllys

Jean Wyllys is a journalist and researcher, and a former member of the Brazilian Congress; he is currently doing doctoral research on “fake news” at the University of Barcelona. Wyllys became an icon of the LGTBI+ community in Brazil after appearing on a television program that helped to normalise homosexuality in Brazilian public opinion. Following his political engagement, in 2011 he was elected to Congress for the Partido Socialismo y Libertad (PSOL) in Rio de Janeiro. He was one of the most active members of the Brazilian parliament in the defence of human rights, especially in relation to LGBTI rights. With the victory of Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian general elections in 2018, he resigned from his post and went into exile in Europe, after receiving several death threats. He had a solo exhibition in Barcelona’s Palau de la Virreina in 2022 «Desexili», a show of drawings, collages, and other compositions, illustrated the link between his exile and the rise of Bolsonaro’s neoconservatism. Wyllys holds a Master’s degree in Literature and Linguistics from the Federal University of Bahia, and he has been a professor of Brazilian Culture and Communication Theory at various schools in his home country. He was a columnist for the newspaper Correio da Bahia and has published the books Aflitos. Crônicas e contos (Casa de Palavras da Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado) which won him the Copene Prize for Literature, Ainda Lembro. Crônicas e experiências vividas no BBB5 (Editora Globo, 2005), Tudo ao mesmo tempo agora. Crônicas e perturbacoes (Giostro Editora, 2009) and Tempo bom tempo ruim. Identidades, políticas, afetos (Companhia das Letras, 2014).