The novel ‘A Vida Airada de Dom Perdigote’ (2023) by Paulo Moreiras has won in the Narrative category, with the jury, led by Sérgio Guimarães de Sousa, praising it as “an exceptional work of romantic vigor that not only virtuously rehabilitates the picaresque genre and, more broadly, the historical novel, but also reveals an unusual lexical richness and a noteworthy investment in literary expressiveness,” stated P.E.N. Portugal.
In addition to Sérgio Guimarães de Sousa, professor at the University of Minho and director of Casa de Camilo, the Narrative jury included literary critic and researcher Teresa Carvalho and university professor Everton Machado.
The book ‘Nocturama’ (2024) by Luís Quintais was awarded in the Poetry category.
The jury, coordinated by António Apolinário Lourenço, a literature professor at the University of Coimbra, highlighted the “unique aesthetic qualities [of the work], reflected in the construction of a distinctive and challenging poetic language, occasionally cruel, inhabited by nocturnal gestures and vague murmurs, questioning the humanity of the human, critically oscillating between agonizing, ironic, and aphoristic tones in depicting the modern world.”
The jury also emphasized “the coherence of Luís Quintais’ poetic journey, without yielding to stylistic easy routes or verbal fireworks, falsely perceived as aligning with the reader’s expectations.”
In addition to Apolinário Lourenço, the jury also included university professors Graça Capinha and Paula Cristina Costa.
The P.E.N. Awards are alternately bestowed; this year’s focus was on Poetry and Narrative categories, and next year will honor works in Essay and Translation.
In 2023, writers Andreia C. Faria and Lídia Jorge were the winners in the Poetry and Narrative categories, respectively. Andreia C. Faria with the book “Canina” and Lídia Jorge with the novel ‘Misericórdia’.
Last year, Ricardo Gil Soeiro and the duo Angélica Varandas and Luísa Azuaga won the P.E.N. Awards in the areas of Essay and Translation.
The P.E.N. awards are supported by the Directorate-General for Books, Archives, and Libraries.
