“The acclaimed Mozambican writer Mia Couto has been awarded the PEN/Nabokov Award for International Literature by PEN America for his entire body of work. Couto is celebrated for novels such as ‘Sleepwalking Land’ (1992) and the more recent trilogy ‘The Sands of the Emperor’ (2015, 2016, and 2018), which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize,” stated the American PEN in its announcement.
The award jury highlighted that Mia Couto’s work is a testament to the dramatic history of his homeland “as well as the enigmas of identity and existence.”
Writing in Portuguese, Mia Couto holds “a unique position in the landscape of African and global literature,” the jury added.
The PEN/Nabokov Award for International Literature, valued at $50,000 (approximately €45,000), is awarded annually by PEN America, in collaboration with the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, to a living author whose body of work, in original or translated form, exemplifies the highest level of achievement in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and/or drama, according to the award’s official website.
The award celebrates authors whose work demonstrates “enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship,” reflecting the versatility and commitment to literature that characterizes Vladimir Nabokov’s writing, the statement continued.
Established in 2016, the award has previously honored writers such as Maryse Conde, Vinod Kumar Shukla, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Anne Carson, M. NourbeSe Philip, Sandra Cisneros, Edna O’Brien, and Adonis.
In September of last year, Mia Couto was recognized with the FIL (Guadalajara International Book Fair) Literary Award in Romance Languages 2024.
Mia Couto was born in Beira, Mozambique, in 1955, and has worked as a journalist, teacher, biologist, and writer.
A recipient of the Camões Prize in 2013, Mia Couto authored works including “Jesusalém,” “The Last Flight of the Flamingo,” “Voices Made Night,” “The Blind Fisherman,” “Sleepwalking Land,” “Under the Frangipani,” and “The Confession of the Lioness.”
Translated into more than 30 languages, the writer was also awarded the Vergílio Ferreira Prize in 1999, the Latin Union Prize for Romance Literatures in 2007, and the Eduardo Lourenço Prize in 2011, among other accolades.
“Sleepwalking Land” was named one of the 12 best African books of the 20th century, and “Jesusalém” was among the 20 most published fiction books in France, as selected by France Culture radio and Télérama magazine.
Updated at 16:28
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