Jorge Arrimar’s novel Cuéle – O Pássaro Troçador won DST Angola/Camões Literature Prize 2024 on Friday, November 22, 2024.
The DST Angola/Camões Literature Prize is a joint initiative between dst group and Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua celebrating books published in poetry and prose by Angolan artists. DST Angola is a subsidiary of the Portuguese group DST, whose main activity is engineering and construction, headquartered in Braga. Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua runs Premio Camões the biggest literary prize in Portugal. In 2018, DST Angola created an identical award in Angola, with the support of the Instituto Cultural Camões. Some previous winners have been João Melo, Pepetela, Zetho Cunha Gonçalves, and Benjamim M’Bakassy.
The 2024 jury, comprising José Mena Abrantes (President), David Capelenguela, and Amélia da Lomba, announced Jorge Arrimar’s Cuéle —O Pássaro Troçador as the winner.
“After a deep and careful analysis and crossing their opinions, the jury unanimously decided to award this year’s prize to the work Cuéle – O Pássaro Troçador (English: Cuéle, The Mocker Bird), by Jorge Arrimar, a grandiose and very well documented fresco on a region of Angola rarely present in our literature”, a statement read.
He added, “The author has perfect command of his expression, both in the writing and definition of the different characters, and in the rigor with which he characterizes ways of being, traditions and behaviors of the various social strata, whether on the African side or on the European side, at a time decisive in the development of Southern Angola, in the transition from the 19th century to the 20th century.”
Arrimar, a member of the Angolan Writers Association, was born in S. Pedro da Chibia, on the Huíla plateau, in Angola. In the 70s he was one of the founders of GRUCUHUÍLA (Cultural Group of Huíla) and directed a literary supplement in Jornal da Huíla, where he published his first poems. At the Faculty of Arts of the University of Luanda, he began his higher studies, having completed, in Portugal, a Degree in History, a Postgraduate Degree in Documentary Sciences, and a PhD in Modern History. He lived in Macau from 1985 to the end of 1998, having held the position of director of the Macau National/Central Library and now lives in Portugal.
The prize, worth €15,000, will be awarded in Angola, in April 2025.
Please support our work at Writing Africa with a one-off donation or regularly on PayPal, Ko-Fi, Patreon, or Mobile Money by clicking here.
Leave a Reply