João de Melo is the winner of the dst Literature Grand Prize 26th edition
The novel ‘Livro de Vozes e Sombras’, by João de Melo, is the winner of the 26th edition of the dst Literature Grand Prize, the organization announced.
The prize is awarded during the Braga Book Fair, scheduled between 9 and 25 July. João de Melo, 72, published his first story at the age of 18, in the Diário Popular newspaper.
His experience as a military man in the colonial war (1961-1974) is reflected in the novel “Autópsia de Um Mar de Ruínas” (1984), whose 9th edition was published in 2019.
With a degree in Romanesque Philology from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, João de Melo collaborated regularly with magazines such as Coloquio-Letras, Vértice, and later, Sílex and Ler, among other publications.
In 1988 he published “Gente Feliz com Lágrimas”, which earned him several national and international awards, such as the Grand Prize for Romance and Novela/1989, the Fernando Namora Prize and the Cidade de Lisboa/Eça de Queiroz Prize, as well as the Prize Cristóbal Colón of the Ibero-American Capital Cities.
This novel was brought to the stage by the theater group O Bando, and adapted to television by the director José Medeiros.
His work gathers about two dozen titles, from the stories of “Histórias de Resistência” (1975), to the stories of “Os Navios da Noite”, that preceded the now awarded novel, going through poetry, essay and travel.
