The Raven Post (Corvo Correio in Portuguese) was created on 24 March, 2011. I had just turned 16, and I felt so mature; back then, everyone knew me as an aspiring visual artist, but I wanted to present myself as the writer I felt called to become. My high school Literature teacher encouraged me to create a public archive of my short stories and poems; once I had a good name idea, I felt ready to start the blog that I would commit to, the one that would follow me into adulthood.
Every piece I have published crystallises a certain moment of my life, and who I thought I should be. My father told me he used to keep up with my posts to understand what was going on in my head when I was younger. Publicising my ideas and feelings helped me to see myself as a part of the world, and the website became safe, solid ground, for whenever my grip on reality seemed to be slipping away.
The name is a play with “pigeon post.” I adore ravens; it started as a joke, after I became obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe as a preteen, and then it wasn’t a joke anymore. I love corvids of all sorts: the common raven, the carrion crow, the Eurasian magpie (likely to retire into birdwatching). Ravens are also a personal reminder of how Providence may not always come from where we expect, following the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:6.
For many years, I kept a sentence on this “About” page:
“I still don’t know if I’ll ever become a proper writer myself—and I don’t believe that I am that much of a good one.”
Writing is one of the core tasks of my job as a researcher. But it would be unfair to my story if I failed to acknowledge all the ways through which I have worked myself into becoming a writer, regardless of titles. Even without a debut book or an extensive publishing list, I leave a note to my younger self: we are getting there.
Corvo Correio | the Raven Post 