In this edition, Cabral's "current thinking" will be debated, within the scope of the 100th anniversary of his birth, which falls in 2024, and on Friday, the second and last day of the event, the president of the Amílcar Cabral Foundation, the former -Cape Verdean head of state Pedro Pires, will speak about the legacy of the historic leader.
The Meetings of Portuguese Language Writers were initiated by UCCLA in 2010, for the appreciation of culture, the dissemination and promotion of literature from Portuguese-speaking countries and the exchange of experiences between writers. The theme in this edition is "The Portuguese language, expression of freedom, democracy and municipal development".
In the XI edition, participate the writers Jacques dos Santos (Angola), André Bazzoni Bueno and Domício Proença Filho (Brazil), António Baptista, Fátima Fernandes, Felisberto Vieira, José António dos Reis, José Maria Semedo, Lúcia Cardoso, Madalena Neves, Odair Varela, Vera Duarte and Vlademiro Furtado (Cape Verde), Amadú Dafé (Guinea-Bissau), Sheila Khan (Mozambique) José Pedro Castanheira, José Pires Laranjeira and Leonel Barbosa (Portugal), Olinda Beja (São Tome and Príncipe) and Pedro Casteleiro (Galicia).
The meetings will be attended by the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, today at the opening session, and the Cape Verdean President, José Maria Neves, at the closing.
During the event, the winners of the 8th edition of the UCCLA-CMLisboa Literary Revelation Award - New Talents, New Works in the Portuguese Language, awarded 'ex aequo' to André Bazzoni Bueno and Leonel Barbosa, will also be presented.
Of the ten previous EELPs, four took place in the city of Natal (Brazil), one in Luanda (Angola) and the rest in the city of Praia, Cape Verde. More than 200 writers have already participated, including six Camões prizes: Arménio Vieira, Eduardo Lourenço, Germano Almeida, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Mia Couto and Pepetela.
UCCLA organizes the meetings together with Praia City Council, with the support of the Academia Cabo-Verdiana de Letras and the Sociedade Cabo-Verdiana de Autores and SPA - Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores.
