Africa-Press – Cape verde. Cape Verdean writer and journalist, Joaquim Arena, is the winner of the fifth edition of the Arnaldo França Literary Prize, awarded annually by Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, in Portugal, and by Imprensa Nacional in Cape Verde.
His book entitled “O Sabor da Água da Chuva and other memories of Amiga Perfeita” was unanimously accepted by the jury for the prize named after the most important literary critic in Cape Verde.
The jury formed by the writers Manuel Brito-Semedo, Maria de Fátima Fernandes and Paula Mendes, the editor-in-chief of Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, highlighted the work as “an epistolary narrative, an original genre in Cape Verdean literature, made in a interesting approach to the Cape Verdean reality, well written and captivating to read”.
Honor Arnaldo França and promote the Portuguese language
In addition to honoring Arnaldo França as an important figure in Cape Verdean literature and culture, the Arnaldo França Literary Prize aims to promote the Portuguese language and literary talent in Cape Verde. In this context, it selects unpublished works of great quality in the field of literary prose, written in Portuguese, and authored by Cape Verdean citizens or residents in Cape Verde for more than 5 years.
In addition to 5,000 euros, the winning work has the privilege of being published by the Portuguese National Mint Press (INCM). This year, the Arnaldo França Prize had 13 candidates.
Joaquim Arena: Journalist, musician and writer
Joaquim Arena, born on the island of São Vicente, is the son of a Portuguese father and a Cape Verdean mother. He emigrated to Portugal with his family in 1970, graduated in Law in Lisbon, and became a musician and journalist. In Cape Verde, where he currently lives, for the second time, he was advisor to the President of the Republic Jorge Carlos Fonseca, until 2021.
In 2000, he published his first novel in São Vicente, “A lighthouse in the desert”, followed by “The truth of Chindo Luz” (2006) and “Where do turtles fly” (2010), in Lisbon. Recently, last November, he launched “Siríaco e Mister Charles” in Praia
He is also the author of an essay-report on his ancestors, slaves and free workers in the rice fields of the Sabo Valley, “Under our skin” (2017).
Joaquim Arena is a regular contributor to the Portuguese magazine LER.
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