Identities: Macedo and Borges Coelho talk in Maputo

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Identities: Macedo and Borges Coelho talk in Maputo

8:49 CAT | 03 May 2017

Helder Macedo and Joao Paulo Borges Coelho

Tomorrow, May 4, is CPLP Portuguese Language and Culture Day. A conversation between the writers Hélder Macedo and João Paulo Borges Coelho will take place at Camões – Centro Cultural Português, in Maputo, at 5:30 p.m. “Literature, Culture and Identities” is the theme chosen for this meeting.

With the moderation of the Vice President of the Bibliographic Fund of the Portuguese Language and university professor Gilberto Matusse, the two writers will talk about themes and concerns in their works, their literary affiliations and possible readings for the articulation of literature and cultural identities.

The Maputo meeting is open to the public and its main objectives are to contribute to the strengthening of mutual knowledge and dialogue among writers, readers and the Portuguese-speaking public.

The Macedo / Borges Coelho conversation will be preceded by speeches from the Portuguese Ambassador to Mozambique, Maria Amélia Paiva, and the Assistant Director of the Gulbenkian Program of Portuguese Language and Culture, Maria Helena Borges. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation currently chairs the Portuguese-language Thematic Commission.

Publishers Leya and Cavalo do Mar will also attend and present a set of Portuguese-language titles.

About Hélder Macedo and João Paulo Borges Coelho

Hélder Macedo (1935) is a poet, novelist, essayist and literary critic. He spent his childhood in Mozambique and adolescence in Guinea Bissau and São Tomé. Between 1955 and 1959 he attended the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. He published his first book of poetry, Vesperal, in 1957, and at that time he was part of the Café Gelo Group, a gathering where, among others, authors such as Herberto Hélder, Mário Cesariny and Luís Pacheco met. An opponent of the Salazar regime, he went into exile in London where he worked with the BBC and later taught at King’s College, where he held the Camões Chair (1982-2004). After April 25 1974, he returned to Portugal and became Secretary of State for Culture in 1979. He is a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

His first work of fiction, Partes de África [Parts of Africa], was published in 1991, followed by Pedro e Paula [Pedro and Paula] (1998), which sealed his reputation as a writer of fiction. He has been an organiser and co-organiser of several magazines and writes criticism and essays published in several newspapers and magazines. He has paid particular attention to the study of the works of Camões, Bernardim Ribeiro and Cesário Verde. He is a regular contributor to Coloquio/Letras Magazine, edited by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

João Paulo Borges Coelho (1955) is a historian and novelist. He spent his childhood in Mozambique and attended Beira Secondary School. He holds a PhD from the University of Bradford (UK), is professor of history at Eduardo Mondlane University and a visiting professor in African History at the University of Lisbon. He has published several books and essays on history in national and international newspapers and magazines. In 2012, he received a doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Aveiro.

He made his debut in fiction with As Duas Sombras do Rio [Two Shadows of the River] (2003) and wrote several award-winning books, among them As Visitas do Dr Vadez [The Visits of Dr. Valdez] (José Craveirinha Prize, 2006) and O Olho de Herzog [The Eye of Hertzog] (Leya Prize 2009).