In an interview with the Lusa agency, in the city of Praia, José Luís Tavares argued that African winners from countries with greater literary expression, such as Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique, should make the proposal.
"The original protocol is determined between Brazil and Portugal and African countries are invited to participate in the jury, on an exceptional basis", with no "determining" force, stated the Cape Verdean poet, who lives in Lisbon and who has also been part of the jury for that Portuguese language literary prize.
If the protocol is modified and African countries can actively "participate", they will have "another say" in the Camões Prize, worth 100 thousand euros, established by the governments of Portugal and Brazil.
"Writers from these countries could also receive the award in their respective countries, which would, to a certain extent, dignify the writer and the literature of their country", insisted Tavares, who is in Cape Verde for the launch of new books.
The Camões Prize aims to distinguish a writer whose work contributes to the projection of the Portuguese Language and was awarded for the first time in 1989 to the writer Miguel Torga (1907-1995).
According to the text of the constituent protocol, signed in Brasília, on June 22, 1988, and published in November of the same year, the prize annually recognizes "a Portuguese-speaking author who, due to the intrinsic value of his work, has contributed to the enrichment of the literary and cultural heritage of the common language".
Brazil and Portugal lead the list of winners, with 14 winners each, followed by Mozambique, with three, Cape Verde, with two, and Angola also with two - Pepetela and Portuguese-Angolan Luandino Vieira, who refused the award in 2006, being the only one to do so, to this day.
The only two laureates from Cape Verde are Arménio Vieira (2009) and Germano Almeida (2018), and José Luís Tavares, with more than 20 years of experience and dozens of published works, said he did not have it on his wish list.
"The awards happen if they have to happen: my aim, my horizon is to publish relevant works, which contribute to freeing people's minds", he replied.
Tavares stressed that this is one of those awards that are not awarded directly to books, but that have "other involvements", in which the authors "are neither had nor found", so it is something that "doesn't keep the author up at night" who celebrates his birthday on Portugal, Camões and Communities Day, and who is a translator of Camões into the Cape Verdean language, Creole. "As I usually say, I was born 'chamonized'", he told Lusa.
José Luís Tavares was born on June 10, 1967, in Tarrafal de Santiago.
In the interview with Lusa, José Luís Tavares also addressed the relationship between writers and literature in Lusophony, to ensure that "exchanges and exchanges are practically zero", with everything being more easily recognized when you are in the "former colonial metropolis", Portugal .
