Brazilian Raduan Nassar wins the 2016 Camões Prize.
Author of 'Lavoura Arcaica' and 'Um Copo de Cólera', Nassar is the 12th Brazilian to receive the most important prize in Portuguese literature; the choice of the São Paulo writer was made unanimously this Monday, the 30th.
World Opera - Brazilian writer Raduan Nassar won the 2016 Camões Prize on Monday (May 30th), considered the most important distinction for authors writing in Portuguese.
The result was announced by the Portuguese Secretary of State for Culture, Miguel Honrado, after a meeting with the jury, which unanimously awarded the prize to the author of "Lavoura Arcaica" and "Um Copo de Cólera".
According to the Portuguese newspaper Público, the jury highlighted the "extraordinary quality" of Nassar's language and the "poetic force of his prose."
This year's jury consisted of Portuguese professor and essayist Paula Morão and poet and columnist Pedro Mexia, Brazilian university professors, critics and writers Flora Süssekind and Sérgio Alcides do Amaral, Mozambican author Lourenço do Rosário, rector of the Polytechnic University of Maputo, and São Toméan essayist Inocência Mata.
According to Público, the choice of Nassar gives "an inevitable political dimension" to this year's Camões Prize, due to Nassar's recent public appearances – he being a notoriously reserved figure – in defense of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and against the impeachment process that Dilma is facing and which culminated in her removal on May 12th. "Those who try to promote Dilma's removal today shamelessly claim to be the holders of ethics, but they will be execrated tomorrow," Nassar declared during a meeting with artists and intellectuals in defense of democracy, alongside Dilma, on March 31st.
Established in 1988 by the governments of Portugal and Brazil, the Camões Prize is awarded to "an author writing in Portuguese who has contributed to the enrichment of the literary and cultural heritage of the common language." With the prize awarded to Nassar this Monday, Brazil now has 12 awards, surpassing Portugal, which has 10.
The list of Brazilians who have already received the award includes João Cabral de Melo Neto (1990), Rachel de Queiroz (1993), Jorge Amado (1994), Antonio Cândido (1998), Autran Dourado (2000), Rubem Fonseca (2003), Lygia Fagundes Telles (2005), João Ubaldo Ribeiro (2008), Ferreira Gullar (2010), Dalton Trevisan (2012) and Alberto da Costa e Silva (2014).
Born to Lebanese parents, Nassar was born in Pindorama (SP) in 1935. In his teens he moved to São Paulo, where he studied Law and Philosophy at USP (University of São Paulo). His first book, "Lavoura Arcaica," was published in 1975. Three years later, he published the novella "Um Copo de Cólera." His last book, "Menina a Caminho," was published in 1997 and brings together a series of short stories written between the 1960s and 1970s.