Book review symposium : Walter Omar Kohan (2021) Paulo Freire : a philosophical biography

Abstract

In appreciation of Paulo Freire’s work, reference to Walter Omar Kohan is de rigueur. Kohan is an established scholar in the area of Critical Pedagogy. This latest addition to his oeuvre was published in Portuguese in 2019 and entitled in English as Paulo Freire more than ever: A philosophical biography. This 2021 edition is an English translation. It features much additional material, including a powerful Foreword by the internationally recognised and distinguished scholar, artist, poet, activist, and public intellectual - Antonia Darder. Following this, an exciting prologue is A Note on the English Translation, written by the author and the translators (Jason Wozniak and Sam Rocha), which is also extended as a dialogue in an appendix. This is unique because it captures the deep and intensive process that was a labour of love in producing a translated book specifically for an anglophone readership. All the more interesting as the English version was not a direct translation from the Portuguese edition. While this prologue is designed to segue to the book’s main contents, it has value in and of itself because it provides a glimpse as to how a book of this nature comes into being and the craft that is needed.