Manuel Alegre wins Miguel Torga Grand Prize for Biographical Literature

The jury, made up of António Pedro Pita, Paula Mendes Coelho and Salvato Teles de Menezes, awarded the prize to Manuel Alegre by majority, and justified the choice of this work, inscribed in an autobiographical lineage, for expressing, "in the different times, paths and aesthetic records of a singular journey, a very vigorous notation of the historical-social, cultural and political contexts of our last decades as a country".

"With his writing identity, Manuel Alegre proposes to the reader paths of unveiling and sharing that become a notable instance of dialogue and enjoyment", adds the APE statement, citing the jury's minutes.

The same note mentions another biography that stood out from the other works in the competition, and which, therefore, justified a special mention from the jury: "'Fortuna, Casa, Tempo e Sorte - Biografia de Luiz Vaz de Camões', by Isabel Rio Novo, for the notable contribution it brings, through a major undertaking, to the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of the poet who so incomparably marks our Literary History".

The book "My Memories" was published by Dom Quixote, in April 2024; "Fortuna, Casa, Tempo e Sorte - Biografia de Luiz Vaz de Camões", by Contraponto, in June of last year.

The Miguel Torga Grand Prize for Biographical Literature, established by the Portuguese Writers' Association with the sponsorship of the Coimbra City Council, aims to annually reward works by Portuguese authors in the fields of biography, autobiography, photobiographies, diaries, memoirs, among others.

The monetary value of this Grand Prize is 12,500 euros and the award ceremony will take place on July 4th, City Day, in Coimbra.

Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte was born on May 12, 1936, in Águeda, and studied in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra.

In 1961 he was mobilized to Angola, was arrested by the PIDE, and spent six months in the Fortress of S. Paulo, in Luanda, where he wrote most of the poems for his first book, "Praça da Canção".

A historic leader of the Socialist Party, he was vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic from 1995 to 2009 and a member of the Council of State.

Throughout his life he was awarded several literary prizes, such as the APE-CTT Grand Prize for Poetry, the Literary Critics Prize from the International Association of Literary Critics (AICL), the Fernando Namora Prize and the Pessoa Prize, in 1999.

In 2016, he received the APE Literary Life Award and the SPA Career Achievement Award. In the same year, he was awarded the dst Grand Prize for Literature for his book of poems "Bairro Ocidental". In 2017, he was awarded the Camões Prize and, in 2019, the SPA Life and Work Award.

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