This November 16, the literary world will celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Lusitanian Nobel Prize for Literature José Saramago. It will be a privileged opportunity to consolidate the writer’s presence in cultural and literary history in Portugal and in the rest of the world, “also to pay tribute to his figure as a citizen”, announced the foundation that bears the name of the author of The Gospel according to Jesus Christ.
To whet your appetite, this Lisbon-based institution is preparing a special program for this Wednesday, which will begin at 10 in the morning, Portuguese time, with thousands of students from schools in that country, Spain and other invited nations, who they will read excerpts from Saramago’s emblematic novels, in a program entitled Lectures Centenárias.
In Mexico, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, through the José Saramago Extraordinary Chair, from the College of Modern Letters of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, prepared a commemorative book that collects testimonies and memories about the narrator’s passage through Mexico.
That work, titled Saramagia, coordinated by Dr. Alma Delia Miranda and edited by Grano de Sal and the Camoes Institute, will be presented on December 5, and includes texts by three journalists from The Day. In these pages we present a preview of that book, with the permission of the publishers.
In Lisbon, there will also be a complete reading of As Little Memories, an autobiography that narrates the writer’s childhood, as well as guided tours and a musical program that will take place on November 16 simultaneously at the Casa José Saramago in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, where the author lived until the end of his days .
The 100th tree of the project will be planted in his native Azinhaga 100 Olive Trees for José Saramago, while a new production of the opera will premiere at the Sao Carlos theater in the Portuguese capital Blimunda, by Azio Corghi.
The José Saramago Foundation (FJS) invites readers from all over the world of the author of The elephant’s journey to join the centenary festivities on social networks by sharing their favorite passages from the writer’s books with the hashtag #Saramago100.
This celebration, pointed out Carlos Reis, commissioner for the Centenary of José Saramago, “reaffirms the undoubted vitality of Saramago’s work, as well as the accentuation of his social, political and ethical thought. The thought of him resonates in our present. The Letter of Duties and Obligations of Human Beings It synthesizes, by its spirit and its effects, a large part of the Saramagian legacy.
“Saramago defines himself today as a ‘world writer’, with an expressive presence in artistic, educational, political and social manifestations of wide diffusion and varied repercussions. These effects include those derived from the presence of his work in our educational system and in the spread of the Portuguese language and culture throughout the world.”
For more information on the activities for the centenary of José Saramago, you can consult the page https://www.josesaramago.org/es/centenario/
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The literary world will celebrate 100 years of the birth of the Lusitanian Nobel Prize winner