In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Cornelder de Moçambique (CdM), the company and the Kulemba Literary Association joined forces in Beira on Friday 2 June to launch an annual literary honour, named the Mia Couto Literary Prize.
Representing the Minister of Culture and Tourism, the Director of the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries, Matilde Muocha, had the honour of officially launching this new literary landmark. In her speech, she stressed the importance of civil society and private entities taking part together in cultural flourishing, specifically in the sphere of Mozambican literature.
She expressed her gratitude to Cornelder de Moçambique and the Kulemba Association for creating the Prize, and to the writer Mia Couto, who kindly offered to be the patron of the award.
António Libombo, in his capacity as Deputy Executive Director, highlighted that this literary prize is in line with CdM's spirit of social responsibility, as the company, in 2023, celebrates a quarter of a century of managing the Port of Beira. He thanked the Kulemba Association for the partnership in this bold literary adventure and assured that the Mia Couto Literary Prize will be a recurring reality for at least "the next five years".
The President of the Kulemba Association, Dany Wambire, expressed his gratitude to his "faithful partner, Cornelder de Moçambique", for once again associating itself with a project aimed at enriching Mozambican literature. He said that the Prize aims to encourage the production of quality texts in Mozambique.
According to Wambire, the Mia Couto Literary Prize will reward "the most notable works published each year" and will cover two categories: prose and poetry. One work in each category will be honoured, and the most notable works will be rewarded with a sum of 400,000 meticais.
The Prize will honour works in Portuguese, written by Mozambican authors in the previous year, every year. In the first edition, exceptionally, works published in 2021 and 2022 will be accepted.
Entries for the first edition of the Prize will close on 5 July, the birthday of its patron, Mia Couto, who, present at the launch ceremony, said he felt flattered to have been invited to lend his name to the award.
