It took me a little while to choose April’s theme. I have a good long list of possible themes for upcoming months, but at the last minute I felt like I needed to change what I’d do for April. At first I thought I didn’t want to do another month of reading (March was hard), but once I realized I didn’t have to try to read one book a day, but instead just read as many as I could, it opened me up to other reading possibilities.
I’ve been wanting to read more Portuguese-language writers for a while, since I’m originally from Portugal, and felt that I’d been neglecting my own mother language for a bit. But then I thought it might be more interesting to read Portuguese-language writers in translation, to maybe introduce some English-speakers to what’s available from Portuguese-speaking countries.
But how to choose which authors to read? Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world after all. Hmm, how about reading all (or as many as I can) of the winners of the Camoes prize? For those not familiar, the Camoes prize is a bit like the National Book Award, Booker prize and Pulitzer all in one. Or for those Spanish-speakers, it’s like the Cervantes prize :o)
It’s been awarded since 1989 and I’ll be attempting to read one work by each author. I plan on reading as many of the writers as I can in English, but if no translation is available (or obtainable) then I’ll read it in Portuguese and do my best to translate whatever quotes I use in my posts.
I hadn’t even heard of half of the writers who’ve been awarded the prize, so this should be quite the interesting month.
Some of the works are longer than others, so I won’t necessarily be posting on a daily basis, but expect to hear from me every few days at most :o)
Que comece a leitura!*
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| lovely certificate awarded to each laureate...along with 100,000 euros, baby! |
*Let the reading begin!
