Paulina Chiziane was revealed to be the winner of the Camões 2021 Award, the richest prize in Portuguese language writing, today, October 20, 2021.
The Camões Prize, named after Luís de Camões Portuguese language’s greatest poet, is the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Biblioteca (National Book, Archive an Libraries Department) and the Brazilian Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (National Library Foundation) to the author of an outstanding oeuvre of work written in Portuguese. The monetary award is €100,000, making it among the richest literary prizes in the world. Some of the previous winners of the award have been Mia Couto, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Maria Velho da Costa, and Germano Almeida.
The winner of the 2021 edition has been announced today by the Portuguese Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca.
“Following the jury meeting of the 33rd edition of the Camões Award, which took place on October 20, the Minister of Culture announces that the Camões 2021 Award was awarded to Mozambican writer Paulina Chiziane”, Fonseca said.
“The jury unanimously decided to award the Prize to the Mozambican writer Paulina Chiziane, highlighting her vast production and critical reception, as well as the academic and institutional recognition of her work. The jury also referred to the importance it dedicates in its books to the problems of Mozambican and African women. The jury highlighted his recent work in bringing young people closer, namely in building bridges between literature and other arts.
Paulina Chiziane is the author of Balada de Amor ao Vento (1990), Ventos do Apocalipse (1996), O Setimo Juramento (2000), Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia (2002), and O Alegre Canto da Perdiz (2008).
Some of her books have been published in Portugal and Brazil, and are translated into English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Serbian, and Croatian.
