2018 D. Diniz Prize

Emeritus Professor Helder Macedo has been awarded two major prizes for his collection of essays Camões e Outros Contemporâneos (Camões and other contemporaries, 2017): the Prize D. Diniz of the Foundation Casa de Mateus and the Great Prize for Essay of the Association of Portuguese Writers.

The collection contains 25 texts dedicated to authors from different times, starting with D. Diniz, and continuing to more contemporary authors such as Mário Cesariny, Herberto Helder or Manuel de Castro. “A recognized poet and novelist, Hélder Macedo offers to us in this book as an essayist a route of the Portuguese literature, from the Middle Ages to the present, familiarizing us with the great authors of the past and of the present and bringing their universe nearer to us by crossing their works and their lives,” according to the jury minutes.

The Prize D. Diniz was presented by the President of the Republic who, at the same event, granted Professor Macedo the Great Cross of the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique (Order of Prince Henry the Navigator) in acknowledgement of his commitment to the expansion of Portuguese culture, history and values.

Helder Macedo held the Camões Chair of Portuguese from 1982-2004. He was born in South Africa and spent his childhood in Mozambique before moving to Lisbon aged 12 and eventually studying at the School of Law there. He began writing poetry and novels during this period, but following censorship of his work by the Salazar regime, ceased to write until later in life.

A commited anti-fascist, Professor Macedo opposed the Salazar regime in his native Portugal and went into exile in England. He joined King’s College London as a PhD student and later as a lecturer. Between 1982-2004 he held the Camoens Chair of Portuguese. He is a Fellow of King’s College London.

Partes de África (Stories from Africa, 1991) and Pedro e Paula (Peter and Paula, 1998) were the first of several novels published to great critical acclaim. Following this success Helder Macedo collaborated on several other publications, distinguishing himself with his innovative perspectives on the connection between the literary text and the intellectual and cultural horizons in which it was produced. Macedo's most recent works are Poemas Novos e Velhos (2011), Tão Longo Amor Tão Curta a Vida (2013), and Romance (2015).

The 500th anniversary of Camões