In Praia da Vitória, 2026 will unfold as a long, attentive reading of a life. Marking the 125th anniversary of Vitorino Nemésio’s birth, the city will devote the year to a constellation of cultural initiatives that revisit his work, his voice, and his enduring presence—placing special emphasis on those who will inherit that legacy: the young.

“What we seek is not a single commemorative gesture, but a living strategy,” said Mayor Vânia Ferreira in remarks to the newspaper Diário Insular. “Nemésio is one of the great names of twentieth-century Portuguese literature. And because he was born here, in Praia da Vitória, it matters that we claim this celebration as a yearlong act of belonging, rather than confining it to a date on the calendar in December.”

At the heart of the program is a desire to tell a story anew—especially to children and students. The aim is not merely recognition of a name, but familiarity with a life. Who was Nemésio? How early did he begin to write? What does it mean that his imagination took shape here? Many young people may know the name without knowing the house that bears it, the early vocation that defined him, or the breadth of his influence. These initiatives, Ferreira noted, are a way of lifting memory into the present and letting it speak again.

Throughout the year, Nemésio will also serve as the guiding presence of the Outono Vivo festival, and his work will echo across the city’s cultural calendar, including during the Festas da Praia. If last year marked the 75th anniversary of Festa Redonda, this year widens the lens—offering not a single homage, but a sustained conversation.

The program will include conferences, literary encounters, and renewed attention to the Casa Vitorino Nemésio, recently restored and now ready to receive visitors not only as a historical site, but as a space of encounter. “With so many commemorative moments unfolding across the year,” Ferreira said, “we can continue to celebrate Nemésio in ways that are thoughtful, layered, and alive.”

Particular emphasis will be given to Corsário das Ilhas, a work in which Nemésio reflected on the cultural soul of Terceira and of the Azorean archipelago as a whole—an island poetics that speaks both inward and outward. Some initiatives may also intersect with events marking the 50th anniversary of Azorean Autonomy, weaving literary memory into broader reflections on identity and self-determination.

The commemorations officially began last Friday with the presentation of Os Sinais da Escrita – Ensaios Nemesianos, by Eduardo Ferraz da Rosa, accompanied by a public lecture. The book was presented by Henrique Levy, who was joined by the author.

Speaking at the event, Ferreira described the volume as “another remarkable contribution to the understanding and dissemination of Vitorino Nemésio’s life and work,” while also strengthening the sociocultural and patrimonial presence of Praia da Vitória itself.

Bringing together essays and studies that revisit times and places, people and institutions, lived experiences and critical, literary, and philosophical reflections, Os Sinais da Escrita reads as both scholarship and homage. Published by Letras Lavradas with the support of the Municipality of Praia da Vitória, the book—and the year it inaugurates—reaffirms that Nemésio’s voice remains not behind us, but among us: still questioning, still illuminating, still speaking to the future.

In Diário Insular, José Lourenço, director.

Photos from the Municipality of Praia da Vitória.