João Barrento wins Camões Prize

The Camões Prize 2023 was awarded to João Barrento, renowned essayist and translator, literary critic, column writer, and professor. The announcement was made this Tuesday, 10 October by the Minister of Culture Pedro Adão e Silva following the jury meeting of this prize’s 35th edition.

According to the Minister, João Barrento is "one of the sharpest thinkers when it comes to art and culture in Portugal. Essays are the literary genre he has focused on the most, his favoured means to think freely about his relation with the world", Pedro Adão e Silva claimed, noting also his action as the driver behind the Llansol Space, "testimony of a generous dedication, the same one reflected in the indispensable translations he has shown us in Portuguese of the works of authors as diverse as Hölderlin, Goethe, Walter Benjamin, or Paul Celan".

The jury acknowledged João Barrento as "the author of a relevant and noteworthy oeuvre" and highlighted also that his essays and literary translations, particularly from German, of all literary genres and ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary works "are the most consistent body of literary translations in our cultural heritage and undoubtedly make up a means of enriching the language and disseminating in Portuguese the major world literature works".

The Camões Prize, set up by Portugal and Brazil in 1989, is the most prestigious prize in Portuguese language. It is awarded annually in tribute to Portuguese literature and the chosen author is one whose work contributes to the dissemination and recognition of Portuguese language. On the group of prize winners we find names such as José Saramago, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Agustina Bessa-Luís, and Chico Buarque.