Marina Colasanti is a Brazilian journalist, visual artist, and author of over sixty volumes of short stories, poetry, essays, and children's literature. Her books have been translated into several languages and recognized with numerous awards, including seven prestigious Jabuti Dourado prizes for best work of fiction. Despite Colasanti's literary stature, A True Blue Idea is the first book-length translation of her writing into English. Her work has been called ""a study of the status of contemporary Brazilian women,"" and ""feminist utopian fiction,"" as it demonstrates a consistent concern with women and the social, ethical, and moral justifications that have grounded their oppression for centuries. These recurring themes, together with Colasanti's keen sense of irony, interest in the unconscious, and finely honed poetic language, come together to create a unique blend of the poetic and the socially conscious. A True Blue Idea is a collection of ten short and often dark fairy tales, beautifully illustrated by the author with a technique known as nankim lavado, or ink gouache resist. The tales revisit traditional fairy-tale characters and themes to challenge ideas, question the relationship between the individual and society, and re-create an alternate past and reality. The characters include a girl who embroiders her own world, a king who has his first and only idea, and a princess whose only friend is her own reflection. Adria Frizzi's flawless translation of this modern classic from the original Portuguese adds an important voice to the Latin American women writers studied and read in English today. A True Blue Idea is intended for everyone-from the general reader of any age to scholars and students of fairy-tale studies, Latin American literature, and women's studies.

"Reading Rheda's short stories and novel has been a delightful discovery for me.... Her style is full of wit, delicious and sometimes devastating irony, and captivating poetic imagery. Her book, in short, will be hard for readers to put down." -- David George, Professor of Spanish, Lake Forest College

Regina Rheda is a contemporary award-winning Brazilian writer whose original voice and style have won her many admirers. First World Third Class and Other Tales of the Global Mix presents some of her finest and most representative work to an English-speaking readership. Stories from the Copan Building consists of eight tales set in a famous residential building in Sa o Paulo. The stories, like the apartment complex, are a microcosm of modern-day urban Brazil. They are witty, consistently caustic, and never predictable.

Also in this volume is the poignant and often hilarious novel First World Third Class. It depicts young middle-class professionals and artists who, as opportunities in Brazil diminished, opted to leave their country, even if it meant taking menial jobs abroad. At the center of the narrative is Rita, a thirty-year-old aspiring filmmaker who migrates to England, and then Italy. She looks for work and love in all the wrong places, moving from city to city and from bed to bed.

The last three stories in this collection also happen to be among the author's most recent. "The Enchanted Princess" is an ironic title for a postfeminist tale of a South American woman being wooed to marry an old-world gentleman who promises to take care of her every need. "The Sanctuary" concerns the living conditions of immigrant workers and farm animals. Equally piquant in nature,"The Front" deals with ecology, labor environments, and gender politics.