Newsboys Return to Porto Through BABELL

20,000 copies of the BABELL newspaper distributed across the streets of Porto

Over the five days of the event, around 20,000 copies of the BABELL newspaper were distributed throughout the city.

Joana Gomes, a newsboy at BABELL and actress with the Palanque Theatre Company, recalls an episode that took place during distribution: “We came into contact with a former newsboy.” She explains that while they were handing out newspapers near the Coliseu, “a man came up to one of the team members and said: ‘I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes watching you, and I’m very happy. I used to be a newsboy, and what you’re doing reminds me of when I was a child.’ It was a very rewarding moment.”

Noting that the concept of the newsboy is now largely unfamiliar, Joana Gomes describes her team’s role in reviving this memory. “Only older people knew what they were. But we always explained what newsboys were, and we made a point of repeating ‘Newsboys, news! Newspapers!’ so that the name would sound more familiar and people could either recognise it or come to understand what it was.”

“The BABELL newspaper is a tribute to the relationship between the printed press and literature, which has always been very strong in the city of Porto,” explains Patrícia Reis, editor of the BABELL newspaper. “We wanted to honour this functional relationship, this romantic way of producing a printed newspaper,” she added, noting that “it was a great joy to see a team of five newsboys on the street interacting with people in a wonderful, generous way, and above all with immense joy. We need joy, and even today the newspaper is joy.”

The BABELL newspaper is a publication dedicated to ideas, creation and cultural debate, bringing together some of the most relevant voices in Portuguese culture – Alexandre Quintanilha, Alfredo Cunha, Álvaro Cúria, Álvaro Domingues, Álvaro Magalhães, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Ana Aragão, Arnaldo Saraiva, Capicua, Carlos Magno, Carlos Té, Eduardo Aires, Filipa Leal, Francisca Pedro Pinto, Germano Silva, João Gobern, Jorge Sobrado, Júlio Machado Vaz, Igor Martins, Mário Cláudio, Miguel Guedes, Paulo M. Morais, Pedro Duarte, Pedro Pinto, Jorge Sobrado, Raquel Patriarca, Richard Zimler, Rita Magalhães, Rosa Alice Branco, Rui Couceiro, Rui Reininho, Sidónio Pardal and Teresa Coutinho.