Mia Couto wins prize at the Guadalajara International Book Fair
The Mozambican writer was chosen from among 49 authors from 20 countries.
The Mozambican author Mia Couto has won the Guadalajara International Book Fair’s Prize for Literature in Romance Languages 2024.
The jury decided to award the prize unanimously, something that “says everything about the recognition of his work, of what it means literarily for the Portuguese language and for those who write literature in this southern suburb of the Portuguese language that is Mozambique”, said Portuguese essayist and professor Carlos Reis, who integrated the jury and was responsible for announcing the winner’s name.
This award “recognises a remarkable literary work that includes a chronicle, short story and novel”, said the jury, made up of seven literary critics and writers.
The winner, who receives a prize of $150,000, was chosen from among 49 authors from 20 countries, writing in six languages: Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.
Mia Couto will attend the opening of the 38th FIL in Guadalajara between November 30-December 8.
In a video call from Mozambique, Mia Couto expressed his surprise at the honour: “It was a great and beautiful surprise,” he told those present at the press conference, which was broadcast online worldwide.
In response to questions, the writer said that “the first big issue” that concerns him today is peace, pointing out that he lives in a country “that is still at war”.
“I'm also concerned about this false search for an affirmation of identity, when Africa is busy affirming what is its own universality,” he said.
Recalling that he began his career as a journalist, the writer was concerned about the crisis in journalism, “which could one day mean its death”. He added: “But it’s not because of the threat posed by social networks and technology, but because of one question: who owns the media today?”
This is not the first time that a Portuguese-language writer has been honoured with this prize: Portuguese authors António Lobo Antunes and Lídia Jorge received the prize in 2008 and 2020 respectively, and the Brazilians Nélida Piñon and Rubem Fonseca received the prize in 1995 and 2003.
It is, however, the first time that an African writer has been honoured.
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Mia Couto was born in Beira, Mozambique, in 1955, worked as a journalist and teacher, and now works as a biologist and writer.
Winner of the Camões Prize in 2013, the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, among other distinctions, his works have been translated into into more than 30 languages, including Confessions of a Lioness, Sea Loves Me: Selected Stories, Woman of the Ashes, Under the Frangipani, and A River Called Time.
Sleep Walking Land was voted one of the 12 best African books of the 20th century, and The Tuner of Silences was among the 20 best fiction books published in France, as chosen by Radio France Culture and Télérama magazine.
A new book by Mia Couto, The Blindness of the River, is due to be published in October.