Beyond all pity

Carolina Maria de Jesus (14 March 1914– 13 February 1977) was a Brazilian outskirts memorialist who lived most of her life as a slum-dweller. She is best known for her diary, published in August 1960 as Quarto de Despejo (lit. Junk Room, English title Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus) after attracting the attention of a Brazilian journalist, which became a bestseller and won international acclaim. The work remains the only document published in English by a Brazilian slum-dweller of that period. De Jesus spent a significant part of her life in the Canindé [pt] favela in North São Paulo, supporting herself and three children as a scrap collector.