Angolan writer Jorge Arrimar, who taught Portuguese for some years in the Azores, won the 6th edition of the Dstangola/Camões Literature Prize.
Jorge Arrimar says that the award does not cover his entire literary career but only his latest title, “Cuéle – o pássaro troçador.”
Even so, according to the Angolan newspaper Jornal Angolano de Artes e Letras, he recognizes that this award is like a light that helps illuminate a trajectory that, to a certain extent, has been in semi-darkness and which began a long time ago, in the 1970s, when he published his first texts in the literary supplement of GRUCUHILA – Grupo Cultural da Huíla, and his first book of poetry, entitled Ovatyilongo (Lubango, 1974).
This was followed, he recalls, by many more titles in poetry and, in recent years, fiction, including the trilogy of plateaus. O Planalto dos Pássaros (2002), O Planalto do Salalé (2012), and O Planalto do Kissonde (2013), all published in Luanda by Chá de Caxinde and in Portugal by Campo das Letras.
Referring to the award-winning work, Jorge Arrimar notes that the book was subject to the appreciation of a jury of people of recognized intellectual value and great knowledge of Angolan literature, which gives the prize a quality “that cannot be concealed by modesty on my part.”

In the opinion of the judges, Jorge Arrimar reconciles “with naturalness, in a simple and fluid style, reminiscences of relevant figures of the time and of his own family history and profusely documented historical facts, which reveal both the outline of a possible harmony in the contact between two different cultures and the violation of one by the other in the implementation of the colonial occupation”.
The jury also highlighted the quality of many of the works submitted to this year’s competition, both for their mastery of language and literary writing, the originality of their themes, and their critique of current reality, which made “the final decision more difficult.”
The prize, worth 15,000 euros, will be awarded to the winner, in the corresponding amount in kwanzas, in Angola, in April next year. Established with the mission of celebrating books published in poetry and prose by prestigious Angolan authors, the Dstangola/Camões Literature Prize has already honored names such as Zetho Cunha Gonçalves in 2019, Pepetela in 2020, Benjamim M’bakassy in 2021, Boaventura Cardoso in 2022 and João Melo in 2023.

Jorge Manuel de Abreu Arrimar, the winner of the VI edition, was born in Chibia, Huíla, in 1953. In the 1970s, he set up the Huíla Cultural Group (Grucuhuíla) with friends. He studied at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Luanda, completing a degree in History and specializing in Documentary Sciences. He taught Portuguese in the Azores, where, with Carlos Loureiro, he ran a literary supplement called Página Africana.

In Diário dos Açores-Osvaldo Cabral, 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 Luso-American Education Foundation for sponsoring FILAMENTOS.