Pensatempos mia couto biography

“If there is an overarching drive that threads the collection together, it’s Couto’s commitment to recognize history’s numerous flaws, and to use this history to embrace a diverse future, full of “hybridities” of both self and cultural environs.” — Benjamin Woodard

Pensativities
Mia Couto, translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw
Biblioasis
305 pages ($22.95)
ISBN 978-1-771960076

 

Mozambican writer and environmental biologist Mia Couto has published over 25 books of poetry and prose in his career. This work has been translated into 20 languages, and the man himself has walked away with both the Camões Prize—a sort of lifetime achievement award for writers working in Portuguese—and the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

All of this is to say that Couto is one of Mozambique’s most beloved and respected writers. And yet, despite these achievements (which also include a finalist spot for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize), the author remains a relative unknown in the United States, where I’m writing this review. In f

Mia Couto facts for kids

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Leite and the second or paternal family name is Couto.

Quick facts for kids

Mia Couto

Mia Couto at Fronteiras do Pensamento (2014)

BornAntónio Emílio Leite Couto
5 July 1955
Beira, Mozambique
OccupationBiologist and writer
NationalityMozambican
PeriodColonial & Post-colonial Africa
GenreAnimist realism, historical fiction

António Emílio Leite Couto, better known as Mia Couto (born 5 July 1955), is a Mozambican writer. He won the Camões Prize in 2013, the most important literary award in the Portuguese language, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2014.

Life

Early years

Mia Couto was born in the city of Beira, Mozambique, the country's third largest city, where he was also raised and schooled. He is the son of Portuguese emigrants who moved to the Portuguese colony in the 1950s. When he was 14 years old, some of his poetry was published in a local newspaper, Notícias da Beira. Three years later, in 1971, he moved to the

Mia Couto

Mozambican writer (born 1955)

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Leite and the second or paternal family name is Couto.

Mia Couto

Mia Couto at Fronteiras do Pensamento (2014)

BornAntónio Emílio Leite Couto
5 July 1955
Beira, Mozambique
OccupationBiologist and writer
NationalityMozambican
PeriodColonial & Post-colonial Africa
GenreAnimist realism, historical fiction

António Emílio Leite Couto, better known as Mia Couto (born 5 July 1955),[1] is a Mozambican writer.[2] He won the Camões Prize in 2013, the most important literary award in the Portuguese language, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2014.

Life

Early years

Mia Couto was born in the city of Beira, Mozambique, the country's third largest city, where he was also raised and schooled. He is the son of Portuguese emigrants who moved to the Portuguese colony in the 1950s. When he was 14 years old, some of his poetry was published in a local newspaper, Notícias da Beira.

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