The Vítor Aguiar e Silva Lifetime Achievement Award carries a monetary value of 20,000 euros. In the two previous editions, writers João Barrento and Lídia Jorge were honored.
Fernando Guimarães, born in Porto in 1928, has been publishing since 1956 in various fields, ranging from fiction to poetry, theater, and essays.
He has also translated works by authors such as John Keats, George ‘Lord’ Byron, Percy Shelley, and Dylan Thomas, among others. His work in literary criticism is notable in publications like Colóquio/Letras, a journal of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Jornal de Letras Artes & Ideias (JL), as well as in newspapers and magazines like Comércio do Porto, Bandarra, and Eros.
In essays, he has particularly focused on Portuguese literature from the late 19th century to the present, as well as the history of aesthetics and philosophy of art.
Fernando Guimarães is part of the research team at the Centre for Portuguese Thought Studies at the Portuguese Catholic University.
His work has been repeatedly recognized by the Portuguese Writers Association (APE). In 2020, he won the Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho Grand Poetry Prize with ‘Junto à Pedra’ and, in 2014, the Teixeira de Pascoaes Grand Poetry Prize with ‘Os Caminhos Habitados’. In 2006, ‘Na Voz de Um Nome’ earned him the APE/CTT Grand Poetry Prize, which he had previously won in 1992 with ‘O Anel Débil’.
Among his other notable works are ‘A Face Junto ao Vento’ (1956), ‘Os Habitantes do Amor’ (1959), ‘O Problema da Expressão Poética’ (1959), ‘As Mãos Inteiras’ (1971), the essay ‘Linguagem e Ideologia’ (1972), ‘Três Poemas’ (1975), ‘Poesia Romântica Inglesa’ (1977), another essay ‘O Que Foi a ‘Presença’?’ (1977), ‘Mito’ (1978), and ‘A Poética do Saudosismo’ (1988), among others.
The work ‘Casa: o Seu Desenho’ (1985) earned Fernando Guimarães the D. Dinis Prize from the Fundação Casa de Mateus, in a tie with Maria Gabriela Llansol, recognized for her work ‘Um Falcão no Punho’.
The author has also been honored by the International Association of Literary Critics, the P.E.N. Club, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Coimbra. In 2006, the University of Évora awarded him the Vergílio Ferreira Prize for his collective essay work. In 1995, he received the insignia of Commander of the Order of Saint James of the Sword.
The award ceremony is scheduled for April, according to the APE.
