“O Processo” is the novel winner in 2024 of the Literary Prize Revelation Agustina-Bessa Luís
Established by Estoril Sol
With the novel “O Processo“, Dulce de Souza Gonçalves won the Literary Prize Revelation Agustina Bessa-Luís 2024, in a monetary value of 10 thousand euros, guaranteeing its publication through the Editorial Gradiva, with which Estoril Sol has maintained a partnership since 2008, year of the launch of the contest, in honour of the great writer.
On “The Process”, the jury, chaired by Guilherme D`Oliveira Martins, considered that it was “a novel centred on the historical memory of the last years of resistance to the Portuguese dictatorship and, at the same time, projection of cultural traits that ensured some of its emblematic references, namely those related to the phenomenon of Portuguese emigration France, especially during the sixties. In this framework will evolve the description of moments (cultural and political) particularly relevant to the Portuguese community, such as the phenomenon of May 68 in France, with its poetic rebellions and creative insubordinations, and that of the Rato Chapel in Portugal in December 1972″.
According to the minutes, the awarded work “is a novel that presents a remarkable stylistic security and even a great literary freshness about the imaginary of contemporary Portugal, with its defects and its virtues”.
Born in Lisbon, in 1973, Dulce de Souza Gonçalves holds a PhD in Educational Psychology, a Master’s degree in Portuguese Literature and Culture and a Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese Studies, having attended the Instituto de Odivelas as a teenager.
She is the founder and mentor of the non-profit association Mentes Sorridentes and a teacher in elementary and secondary education for 29 years. “My great dream is that one day we will have a world full of happier words. Therefore, I am sowing, as a teacher and writer, in schools and places where I walk, colourful ideas that sometimes accompanied, even make the pin”, he says.
He was a finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2018 and won the Global Teacher Award in 2021. She received the Almirante Teixeira da Mota Prize in 2000 and is the author of some works in the field of children’s literature.
The winning work is a novel inspired by a true story, full of emotions and historical meanings, which explores the intimate and deep connection between a niece and her uncle, a former political prisoner.
Situated between Portugal, France and Brazil, it addresses the intricate connection of the present time with the turbulent context of the dictatorial regime before the Revolution of April 25, 1974. The narrative, based on documented facts, is a dive into this past of resistance, courage and love.
The story follows the journey of a niece, moved by an unexpected request and the desire to understand the roots of her freedom. When he looked at his uncle’s political record in the archives of the Tombo Tower, he came across unusual details of his arrest and his relationship with a young French woman, complicit in love and resistance. The search leads her to find the old girlfriend of the uncle, who, although distant, shares the emotional and historical marks of that time.
The Jury that awarded the Prize, besides Guilherme D’Oliveira Martins, who presided, on behalf of the CNC – Centro Nacional de Cultura, included José Manuel Mendes, the Portuguese Association of Writers, Maria Carlos Gil Loureiro, by the Directorate-General of Books, Arquivos e Bibliotecas, Manuel Frias Martins, for the Portuguese Association of Literary Critics, and also by José Carlos de Vasconcelos, Liberto Cruz and Ana Paula Laborinho, invited individually and Dinis de Abreu, representing Estoril Sol.
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