Speaking today to the Lusa agency, José Vieira, coordinator of the international conference entitled “The Pilgrimage of Mário Claudio”, explained that the initiative arose “as part of two major celebrations in the long literary career of Mário Claudio” which are being celebrated in year.
“First of all, the 40th anniversary of the publication of the novel ‘Amadeo’, which won the Grand Prize for Novels and Novels from the Portuguese Writers’ Association (APE) in 1984. In fact, Mário Claudio is the the only writer in Portuguese literature who has won this award three times. Secondly, to celebrate 55 years of the literary life of the writer, which is celebrated this year and began, in 1969, with the publication of the book of poems ‘The Cypris Cycle'”, explained the university professor.
Professor at the University of Padua, in Italy, José Veiga emphasized that “Mário Claudio is the living writer [82 anos] of Portuguese literature, but also of Portuguese literature, with the most extensive literary work, surpassed only by Camilo Castelo Branco and Agustina Bessa-Luís, who are great mentors and holy monsters”.
According to José Vieira, the conference that takes place between Thursday and Saturday, in the municipality of Amarante, Porto area, and Paredes de Coura, in the Viana do Castelo area, aims to “discuss and discuss ideas about the work, the characters, of the major themes used by Mário Claudio in his novels, soap operas, chronicles and biographies”.
“This shows, on the one hand, a work that is constantly changing and, on the other, the vitality of his work, bringing together so many people from so many different places. It is a living work that changes, which makes it a classic”, he said.
In addition to the “tribute to one of the greatest names in letters in Portugal, which Paredes de Coura chose to live there” and the location of the Mário Claudio center, which houses “the author’s precious collection”, the international meeting will there. the first step towards creating a networked research center dedicated to writers from Northern Portugal and Galicia.
“This conference is also a slogan, as a springboard to start this extended network of writers, not only from the North of Portugal, but from the North of the Iberian Peninsula, that is Galicia. I believe that by bringing together all these experts and making one part in Amarante and the other in Paredes de Cora, it is a sign of the vitality of the writers from the North of Portugal and also from Galicia”, said the academic.
Mário Claudio, born in Porto, lives in Paredes de Coura, but has “familial and emotional ties to Amarante that are evident in the publication of the novel ‘Amadeo'”.
Mário Claudio was awarded the APE award twice more for his work “Retrato de Rapaz” (2015) and “Tríptico da Salvação” (2019).
The conference begins on Thursday, in the hall of the Amarante municipal library, with a communication and a guided tour of the Amadeo de Souza Cardoso museum.
The program includes the “Gomo de Tangerina show at the Amadeo de Souza Cardoso museum, which is open to the public. A concert designed around the work of Mário Claudio”, remembering that, in addition to being a writer, Mário Claudio is a lyricist.
In Paredes de Coura, Friday and Saturday, in addition to the communications, two books will be launched, an Italian translation of “Retrato de Rapaz” and “A Verdade é de Papel – Ensaios para Tiago Veiga”, organized by José Vieira.
On Saturday, “in addition to a literary script by Mário Claudio, there will be a cello concert, two exhibitions in Mário Claudio’s place about the work of Tiago Veiga and the Irish painter, Ellen Rasmussen, Tiago Veiga’s second wife”.
“It is a conference that not only brings the academy together, but opens the academy to civil society, through music, literature, painting, a democratic and open exchange of ideas”, the university professor presented.
The conference is organized by the Lusophone Center and European Literatures and Cultures at the University of Lisbon, in collaboration with the municipal areas of Amarante and Paredes de Coura.
