The winners of the Oceanos — Premio de Literatura em Língua Portuguesa were announced at a ceremony held at the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo, marking its centennial, on Tuesday night in Brazil, early Wednesday in Europe.
“Longarinas” by Alagoas poet Ana Maria Vasconcelos was published by 7Letras, while the prose book “Ressuscitar mamutes” by São Paulo’s Silvana Tavano was published by Autêntica Contemporânea.
Before the announcement of the winners, the ten finalists were honored with an artistic presentation led by writer, composer, and singer Luca Argel, who composed a melody for each book.
The finalists this year included Portuguese authors Ricardo Gil Soeiro, Rui Cardoso Martins, and Teresa Veiga, as well as Angolan José Eduardo Agualusa and Mozambican Mia Couto.
The ten finalist books, consisting of prose and poetry, were selected from 3,142 entries from 488 different publishers in Brazil, Portugal, and Portuguese-speaking African countries.
In poetry, finalists included “Lições da Miragem” by Ricardo Gil Soeiro, “As Coisas do Morto” by Mozambican Francisco Guita Jr., “Coram Populo — Poesia Reunida Livro 2” by Brazilian Maria do Carmo Ferreira, “Longarinas” by Ana Maria Vasconcelos, and “O Pito do Pango & Outros Poemas” by fellow Brazilian Fabiano Calixto.
In prose, the list of five finalists comprised “A Cegueira do Rio” by Mia Couto, “As Melhoras da Morte” by Rui Cardoso Martins, “Mestre dos Batuques” by José Eduardo Agualusa, “Vermelho Delicado” by Teresa Veiga, and the winner “Ressuscitar Mamutes” by Silvana Tavano.
On stage, Luca Argel declared he had never done something like this before, describing it as “an incredible challenge, like diving into an ocean, reading the ten books and finding the melodies within each one.”
The performance honoring the finalists also featured singer and composer Iara Rennó, who sang “Elástica,” a song she created based on a poem by Mário de Andrade, a key figure in Brazilian Modernism, and percussionist Victória dos Santos.
The ceremony also included a speech by indigenous writer and activist Daniel Munduruku, who highlighted the importance of recognizing indigenous literature in Brazil.
“This is necessary so that Brazilian society can see itself through the convex of the mirror and so perceive how much it has been losing by leaving such rich perspectives out of the construction of an identity built from our ancestry,” he said, met with applause from the audience.
The event also featured Rodrigo Massi, the library’s director, who opened the evening, and the prize’s coordinator and director of Oceanos Cultura, Selma Caetano, who welcomed the audience and celebrated the centennial of the institution, remembering generations of writers, musicians, and artists from various countries, heirs of Mário de Andrade.
The Portuguese finalists were presented by Isabel Lucas, the Oceanos curator for Portugal; the African finalists were introduced by Rita Chaves, a professor at the University of São Paulo specializing in African Portuguese Literature; and the Brazilian finalists were announced by Manuel da Costa Pinto.
According to the Brazilian curator, the poetry winner “Longarinas,” Ana Maria Vasconcelos’ fourth book, “favors short forms to address the passage of time and permanence; a poetry organized around the minimal and observation.”
The poet from Alagoas had previously entered the Oceanos Prize in 2024, reaching the semifinals with the book “O rosto é uma máquina aquosa” (Ofícios Terrestres).
Regarding “Ressuscitar Mamutes,” Silvana Tavano’s second novel, Manuel da Costa Pinto highlighted that the work blends essay and fiction styles, combining scientific speculations and experiences with a narrative of mourning.
“The result is a narrative that imaginatively and poignantly addresses the possibilities of dealing with time, achieving redemption, and transforming the past (and consequently the future) through imagination,” he added.
The awarded authors receive a total prize of 300,000 reais (47,400 euros), divided into 150,000 reais (23,700 euros) for each winner.
The Oceanos is conducted via Brazil’s Ministry of Culture Cultural Incentive Law and is sponsored by Banco Itaú and the Portuguese Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries, with support from Itaú Cultural, the Cape Verdean Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries, and the institutional support of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP).
The Oceanos Prize is managed by the Associação Oceanos in Portugal and Oceanos Cultura in Brazil.
Last year’s winners were Portuguese poet Nuno Júdice with “Uma colheita de silêncios” and Brazilian writer Micheliny Verunschk with the novel “Caminhando com os mortos.”
