DULCE MARIA CARDOSO'S CHRONICLES AWARDED WITH GRAND PRIZE PROMOTED BY APE AND LOULÉ MUNICIPALITY
Dulce Maria Cardoso received this Thursday, May 9, the Grand Prize for Chronicles and Literary Dispersal, promoted by the Portuguese Writers Association and Loulé City Council, which distinguished her work “Unauthorized Autobiography 2”.
Published in 2023, this second volume brings together personal and memoir accounts that Dulce Maria Cardoso wrote for the magazine Vision.
With a "provocative title," the work is composed of a series of chronicles in which the author becomes a character and draws her entire universe—her family, her loves, her friends, the people she encounters, making them characters as well. "It's a way of moving from the particular to the universal, from the very localized in time to the timeless, and it's also a way of having fun with the readers," she said. It follows on from volume 1, released in 2021, four years that encompassed many phases of the writer's life: "the pandemic, happier and less happy moments, loves, heartbreaks, travels—they captured the past and much of what made me get to where I am today as a person," explained the award-winning author.
Happy with this recognition from his peers, he believes the award will allow him to "buy time" to dedicate himself "entirely" to his art.
A Transmontana "in every gene," who came to the South to receive this award, reaffirmed: "I know what it's like to be far from the center!" That's also why he wanted these chronicles to be a "record of these people who were born to have no voice, far from the centers of power."
Despite her vast body of work, which spans other genres, she says she feels comfortable writing chronicles, a "very demanding genre that contains irreconcilable contradictions." "We're talking about the particular, but the chronicle has to be universal. We're talking about the present, but it has to be timeless. We're becoming a character, but the chronicler has to be, above all, a citizen," noted Dulce Maria Cardoso.
The award, however, leaves him with a bitter taste in his mouth, as he fears that a possible third volume of this “Unauthorized Autobiography” will not be published due to the crisis affecting the written press, including the magazine. Vision.
On behalf of the jury, which also included Helena Carvalhão Buescu and Salvato Teles de Menezes, Carlos Albino Guerreiro highlighted the excellence of Dulce Maria Cardoso's writing, another renowned figure in Portuguese literature joining the winners of this Prize. "The charm of these chronicles stems from this confrontation of narrative itself in the form of a chronicle, with unusual boldness, but above all with an uncommon literary quality. It's not just about writing well, it's about writing artfully," noted the jury's spokesperson.
Carlos Albino Guerreiro also highlighted the "combination of brevity and intensity of what is evoked and described." "It embodies literary prose of the highest quality that transports the reader to the true value of the circumstances that make up our days," he remarked.
In these nine editions, this Grand Prize for Chronicles and Literary Dispersal "has achieved undeniable national importance; it is a coveted award, recognizing its seal of guaranteed literary quality." "We have donned our finest suits to applaud this throng of writers. All of them have shown willingness to return to this land for meetings with young people and book clubs in Loulé, Quarteira, Salir, and Almancil," said the jury representative.
The president of the Portuguese Writers' Association, José Manuel Mendes, recalled the Prize's eight previous winners (José Tolentino de Mendonça Rui Cardoso Martins, Mário Cláudio, Pedro Mexia, Mário de Carvalho, Lídia Jorge, José Eduardo Agualusa, and Miguel Esteves Cardoso), names that perfectly capture "the journey of this Grand Prize." "It has been a journey of truly rare prestige in the context of Portuguese literature and beyond," he said, emphasizing that the chronicle is a genre "widely practiced, of enormous merit, and, above all, the one closest to everyone's daily lives."
“There are chroniclers who become canonical in our daily lives, among them Dulce Maria Cardoso,” he noted.
On this day, the cooperation protocol between the Association and the Municipality was renewed, with the prize now having a monetary value of 15 thousand euros.
"For us, these moments are lived with great joy. There is a renewed sense of fulfillment in the noble pursuit of literary creation and the promotion of the arts," said Mayor Vítor Aleixo on this occasion.
