Mozambican poet Álvaro Taruma is one of the ten finalists for the 2024 Oceanos Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the Portuguese language.
Taruma competes in the poetry category with Criação de Fogo (“Creation of Fire”), a work that portrays fire as both a creative and destructive force, evoking the ongoing wars worldwide, from Cabo Delgado in Mozambique to the daily struggles for dignity, safety, and social justice.
In the prose category, selected works include Certas Raízes (“Certain Roots”) by Hélia Correia, Os Infortúnios de um Governador nos Trópicos (“The Misfortunes of a Governor in the Tropics”) by Germano Almeida, Caminhando com os Mortos (“Walking with the Dead”) by Micheliny Verunschk, Outono de Carne Estranha (“Autumn of Strange Flesh”) by Airton Souza, and Meu Irmão, Eu Mesmo (“My Brother, Myself”) by João Silvério Trevisan.
In poetry, in addition to the Mozambican poet, the finalists include *Uma Colheita de Silêncios* (“A Harvest of Silences”) by Nuno Júdice, Limalha by Rodrigo Lobo Damasceno, Perder o Pio a Emendar a Morte (“Losing the Chirp to Fix Death”) by José Luiz Tavares, and Uma Volta pela Lagoa (“A Walk by the Lagoon”) by Juliana Krapp.
The organizers of the Oceanos Prize highlighted in a statement that “this stage of the Oceanos Prize showcases the plural and international nature of the award, also revealing a vast thematic and stylistic diversity.” The winners will be announced on December 5 at the main auditorium of Itaú in Brazil, with a total prize of 300,000 reais to be awarded.
Held under the Brazilian Cultural Incentive Law (Lei Rouanet), the Oceanos Prize is one of the main literary awards in the Portuguese language, sponsored by Banco Itaú and supported by institutions such as the Directorate-General for Books, Archives, and Libraries of Portugal, Itaú Cultural, National Library of Mozambique, Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries of Cape Verde, along with the institutional support of CPLP. The award is managed by the Oceanos Association in partnership with Itaú Cultural.
(By MozaVibe/Catalogus)
