The Documentary Podcast: Archive 2015

Machado de Assis was born in 1839 of mixed race, an epileptic with little formal education. Yet from these humble origins he went on to become Brazil’s greatest writer - the ‘Charles Dickens’ of Rio de Janeiro. Juliana Iootty of the BBC Brazilian Service goes out onto the streets of Rio to discover what the people of this vibrant and colourful city make of their literary star.