Mozambican writer Lucílio Manjate has won the first edition of the Eduardo Costley-White literary prize with his work “Rabhia”, the Portuguese-American Development Foundation (FLAD) announced today. Our good friend JESSEMUSSE CACINDA reports from Maputo in Mozambique.
The Lusophone – American Foundation for development, FLAD AFRICA, started a new literary prize to promote the new African voices in Portuguese Language. The winner of the prize run in partnership with publisher Edições Esgotadas would receive a cash prize of EUR 10,000 and their manuscript published. They opted to name the new prize after one of Mozambique’s well known writers… Eduardo Costley-White.
Eduardo Costley-White was born in Quelimane, Zambezia province and began publishing in 1984 with his work, Amar Sobre O Índico. In 2001, the Mozambican Press Association named him the literary figure of the year and an anthology of his poetic work “O Libreto Da Miséria” won the 2012 BCI Prize for Literature. In the course of his writing career Costley-White, who died at age 50 in 2014, received the Mozambican National Poetry Prize, the Rui de Noronha Consecration Prize and the José Craveirinha Literature Grand Prize, among others.
A total of 34 writers from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe entered the first Eduardo Costley-White competition. The winner out of these was Lucilio Manjate a Mozambican novelist and literature professor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo with his manuscript, “Rabhia.” The announcement was made on March 13th Monday in Lisbon, Portugal.
An excited Lucilio Manjate has this to say about the prize, “this prize came to recognize the African writers and storytellers in the world, especially in the Portuguese language space, because they are authors that are living with problems of publishers with the capacity to introduce them in the international market.”
The Mozambican writer Mia Couto the president of the jury, which considered applications from all the Portuguese-speaking African countries said, “The response to this award leaves us very satisfied.”
“In addition to deepening the relationship between Portugal and the Americas, FLAD is committed to co-operating with Portuguese-speaking African countries. This award shows this commitment to the dissemination of the Portuguese language and the promotion of new literary talents,” a press release by FLAD president Vasco Rato said.
The award ceremony will take place at FLAD headquarters in Lisbon, with FLAD president Vasco Rato and jury president Mia Couto attending.
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