Between May and June, Praia da Vitória will host Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, for the first long-term literary residency in the Azores.
The announcement was made yesterday by the Councillor for Culture, Paula Sousa, and by David Lopes, Director of the ‘Lar Doce Ler’ Association, the project’s partner.
“This is a very proud moment for Praia da Vitória, which, in a way, is a preview for this year’s edition of Autumn Alive, which runs from October 25 to November 10. Receiving a Nobel Prize winner on our island and in our municipality is something unprecedented, which, in large part, arises from meetings and conversations that took place at our literary festival,” said Paula Sousa.
The RTP Readers’ Club will hold a public session on June 1 at 3 p.m. at the Terceira Island Youth and Arts Academy (AJAIT).
This will be the only public moment with the writer.

Paula Sousa admits there will be more intimate moments throughout the literary residency. According to the Cultural Director and City Council Member, the session will be divided into two parts: the first “will be recorded and hosted by journalist Ana Daniela Soares and bibliophile Alberto Manguel,” and the second will be a “conversation with all the readers who are present.

The session is free, and seating is limited. Tickets must be picked up at the AJAIT box office during the usual opening hours, between 8.30am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.
“In addition to this moment, the writer will be anonymously on Terceira Island for a month,” revealed the Councillor.
According to David Lopes, the author chose the destination, hoping to take advantage of the calm to write and get to know nature.
“She really wanted to come to a place in Portugal where she could quietly write away from the big cities and the big international commitments she has. Perhaps because of her own literary profile and the interests we discover as we read her work, the Azores were an easy choice. In her work there is a great connection and commitment to nature,” said the Director of ‘Lar Doce Ler.’
The partnership aims to “continue to promote this type of literary residency with authors of national and international renown,” said David Lopes.

Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature by the Swedish Academy in 2018 for her “narrative imagination, which with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of borders as a way of life.”
In addition, the Polish writer has received, among others, the Nike Prize (the most important in Poland) and the International Booker Prize.
She is the author of eight novels and three volumes of short stories.

In Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)