Lisbon - Angolan writer Ondjaki received the Vergílio Ferreira prize on Wednesday in Portugal, at a ceremony held at the Évora University.
Established by the Évora University in 1996, to honour the writer who gives it its name, the Vergílio Ferreira Prize is intended to annually award a set of literary works by a Portuguese-speaking author relevant in the fields of fiction and/or essay.
During the ceremony, which was attended by the Angolan ambassador to Portugal, Carlos Alberto Fonseca, the Évora University's Dean, Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar, highlighted Ondjaki's literary career, considering it to be a contribution he made to the evolution and dissemination of culture in Portuguese language.
On his turn, Ondjaki took the opportunity to underline his Angolan identity and stress the importance of culture for the people's development, as a form of union so that each nation can better disseminate its identity.
Ndalu de Almeida "Ondjaki" was born in Luanda in 1977. He has a degree in Sociology from ISCTE, Portugal and a PhD in African Studies. He is a novel writer, poet and also writes for cinema.
He is a member of the Union of Angolan Writers and has received awards such as the Sagrada Esperança (Angola, 2004), Conto-A.P.E (Portugal, 2007), FNLIJ (Brazil, 2010 and 2014), Juvenil (Brazil, 2010), José Saramago (Portugal, 2013) and Littérature-Monde Prize (France, 2016).
His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Serbian and Swedish. Occasionally he teaches creative writing.
As in previous editions, the award ceremony for the 2023 edition was scheduled for March 1st, the date that marks the anniversary of Vergílio Ferreira's death (1916-1996), patron of the award and author of "Aparição" .
