News 2010: Cape Verdean Author Germano Almeida to speak at UMass Dartmouth

News 2010: Cape Verdean Author Germano Almeida to speak at UMass Dartmouth
Cape Verdean Author Germano Almeida to speak at UMass Dartmouth

"Literature and Identity: Reflections of a Cape Verdean Writer" by acclaimed author Germano Almeida. The lecture - free and open to the public - will be held in the Claire T. Carney Library Browsing Area (parking lot 13), on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 2:00 PM.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Portuguese Studies and
Culture, the Consul General of Cape Verde in Boston, the UMass Boston
Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics, the UMD School of Education, Public Policy and Civic Engagement, and the Department of Portuguese announce a lecture entitled, "Literature and Identity: Reflections of a Cape Verdean Writer" by acclaimed author Germano Almeida. The lecture - free and open to the public - will be held in the Claire T. Carney Library Browsing Area (parking lot 13), on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 2:00 PM.

Mr. Almeida will speak on the topic of literature and identity as it relates to Cape Verde. As the author affirms, "Cape Verde is a small country of about 500,000. Despite this fact, it is possible to claim the existence of a national literature rooted in the Cape Verdeans' struggle against a cruel environment that in turn provided the opportunity for the emergence of a new identity in a society profoundly interracial. Cape Verdean intellectuals, particularly those of the Claridoso group, dared to assert this new unique identity, which over time has come to be respected as a great contribution to humanity."

Germano Almeida was born on the island of Boavista in Cape Verde. He earned
a degree in law at the University of Lisbon and practices in the city of
Mindelo. He began his literary career in the early 1980s as a short story
writer for the magazine Ponto & Vírgula. However, it was the publication
of, O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araujo, in 1991, by the
Caminho publishing house in Lisbon (which also publishes José Saramago),
that gathered the resounding praise of critics and catapulted Almeida on
to the international literary scene with English, French, and Italian editions. 

The novel was translated into English as, The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo, having been published in 2004 by the prestigious New Directions Publishing Corporation in New York City. The novel was also the inspiration for an eponymous award-winning feature motion picture. Almeida is the author of over 10 books including, A Ilha Fántastica, O Mar na Lajinha, and most recently, Eva. This is the author's first visit to the
United States.

For more information on this and other activities of the Center for
Portuguese Studies and Culture, please contact the Center by telephone
(508-999-8255) or email (greis@umassd.edu). More information can also be
found at www.portstudies.umassd.edu.

The Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture is grateful to the Department
of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University for having organized Germano Almeida's visit to the United States.