Three African writers will be participating in the Ceara’s International Book Biennial, to be held in Fortaleza from August 16 to 25, 2019. Mozambican Mia Couto, Moroccan Abdellah Taïa and Angolan José Eduardo Agualusa will be participating in lectures, debates and other meetings at the event, witches central theme is “Cities and Books”.
Mia Couto, a world renown author, will have his book “Sleepwalking Land“, from 1992, praised at the event. This work, which was the writer’s first novel, is considered one of the best African books of the twentieth century and is centered in the post-independence period in Mozambique when the country was undergoing a major civil war.
The Angolan José Eduardo Agualusa is another African author who will be part of the event. Journalist, writer, and publisher of Portuguese and Brazilian descent, he writes short stories, novels, chronicles, and children’s literature. His novels have been awarded nationally and internationally and his works have already been translated into more than twenty languages.
Abdellah Taïa, a Moroccan writer, filmmaker, and journalist, self-exiled in Paris since 1998, has published eight novels – many of them autobiographical, extolling the dignity of homosexuals, heavily harassed in the Arab world. Because of its representativeness, Abdellah has become an iconic figure and symbol of resistance in the country and throughout the Arab community. He currently works as a journalist for Le Monde, a French journal.
With the theme “Cities and Books”, Ceara’s Biennial reaches its thirteenth edition this year and seeks to conduct an analysis of the relationships between books the different spaces of cities, as a form of representation of memories and affection, strongly portrayed in literature.
During the ten days, the event will feature a program full of literary attractions, including lectures, debates, conferences, workshops and book launches, as well as presentations with local, national and international artists. The Biennial will be held at the Center of Events of Ceará and access is free. Official programming will be announced by the organization