Luanda - Writers João Melo and Albino Carlos will represent Angola at the May 5 festivities, known as World Portuguese Language Day, to take place in Canada, ANGOP learnt on Thursday.
This year's World Portuguese Language Day will take place around the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís de Camões.
To celebrate the event in Canada, diplomatic representatives of the member countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) will hold a book exhibition and a debate on the problem of the Portuguese language on May 6 in Ottawa, with the participation of writers, artists and intellectuals from the Portuguese-speaking countries.
João Melo and Albino Carlos were invited to the event by the Angolan Consulate General in Toronto.
A poet, journalist, former MP and Minister of Social Communication, João Melo has a vast bibliography, including the works "Diário do Medo", "Imitação de Sartre & Simone de Beauvoir", "Filhos da Pátria", "The Serial Killer and other laughable or perhaps not so laughable tales", and many other works.
Albino Carlos is the winner of the National Literature Prize-2014 (Issunje), the António Jacinto Literature Prize - 2006 (Olhar de lua Cheia) and the winner of the Angola Golden Globes - 2019 (Caça às bruxas).
In 2023 he published the book of short stories "Os funerais de Manguituka, o terrível bandido& outros mambos" (The funerals of Manguituka, the terrible bandit & other mambos), and has a trilogy of Angolan music ("History of Angolan Music", "Semba" and "Muxima-Luanda").
João Melo and Albino Carlos are university lecturers and members of the Union of Angolan Writers and the Angolan Academy of Letters.
Portuguese is the fourth most spoken mother tongue in the world, after Mandarin, English and Spanish. It is currently spoken by more than 260 million people on five continents, 3.7 percent of the world's population, and the United Nations estimates that in less than 30 years it could reach around 400 million speakers. EVC/PA/TED/AMP
