Germano Almeida
Germano Almeida , also Germano de Almeida , (born July 31, 1945 on the island of Boa Vista , Portuguese Cape Verde ) is a Cape Verdean writer, publisher and lawyer.
Life
Youth and origin
Germano Almeida was born on July 31, 1945 on the island of Boa Vista in the Portuguese colony of Cape Verde as one of ten children to parents Anacleto Dias Almeida and Eugenia da Cruz Almeida. His father, Anacleto, worked as a carpenter, his mother as a housewife. His father Anacleto died when Germano Almeida was 16 years old, so he started working as a carpenter to support the family. He was considered an ambitious student, although it was difficult for the family to continue to support Almeida in his education. After completing primary school on Boa Vista, he attended various secondary schools in the capital Praia (on the island of Santiago) and on the island of São Vicente .
Studied and worked as a lawyer
At the age of 18, Almeida was drafted into the Portuguese military and did his military service in the Portuguese colony of Angola . Thanks to his ambition, he won a scholarship to study in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. In 1972 he moved there to study law at the University of Lisbon ( Universidade Clássica) . After completing his studies, he returned to Cape Verde.
After Cape Verde declared itself independent from Portugal in the course of the Carnation Revolution in 1975, Almeida was appointed Attorney General of the archipelago in 1976. He held this office until 1979, after which he moved to Mindelo (São Vicente Island) to practice as a lawyer.
Literary work
Despite his practice as a lawyer, Almeida also developed a love for writing. In 1983 Almeida founded the magazine Ponto & Vírgula and in the same year published his first work Estórias (Stories) under the pseudonym "Romualdo Cruz". In 1989 Almeida joined the publishing house Ilhéu, through which he then published most of his works. In the same year he published his first and to this day most famous novel, O testamento do Senhor Napomuceno da Silva Araújo (German: "The Testament of Mr. Napumoceno"). A film based on this novel by the Portuguese director Francisco Manso received first prize at the largest Brazilian film festival Festival de Cinema de Gramado in 1997 .
In 1990 Almeida published his second novel, O Meu Poeta ("My Poet"), about the political life of Mindelo. In O Meu Poeta, Almeida consciously criticized the political system of the island state and the widespread opportunism in Cape Verdean society.
Numerous other works came in the course of the 1990s. Almeida's works have been translated into numerous languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the Portuguese-speaking area outside of Portugal and Brazil. He is known for his unique writing style, in which he interweaves real or autobiographical elements with fictional and humorous elements.
In 2010, the then Cape Verdean President Pedro Pires honored him with an award for literary excellence.
In 2018, Almeida was the second Cape Verdean author after the poet Arménio Vieira to receive the annual Prémio Camões , the most important literary prize in the Portuguese-speaking region .
Works
- O dia das calças roladas. (1982)
- O meu poeta. Without place, 1989. New edition: Caminho, Lisboa 1992, ISBN 972-21-0786-0 .
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O testamento do Senhor Napomuceno da Silva Araújo. Ed. Caminho, Lisboa 1991, ISBN 972-21-0575-2 .
- German edition: The testament of Mr. Napumoceno: Roman. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-596-13847-7 ( Fischer. 13847). (Translator: Maralde Meyer-Minnemann ). (New edition: Unionsverlag, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-293-20668-7 ).
- A ilha fantástica. Caminho, Lisboa 1994, ISBN 972-21-0917-0 .
- Os dois irmãos: romance. Caminho, Lisboa 1995, ISBN 972-21-1032-2 .
- Estórias de dentro de casa: novelas. Caminho, Lisboa 1996, ISBN 972-21-1078-0 .
- A morte do meu poeta (1998) (Content: Critical processing of a corruption scandal by the ruling party, therefore initially only published by the author).
- A família trago Caminho, Lisboa 1998, ISBN 972-21-1175-2 .
- Estórias contadas (1998)
- Dona Pura e os camaradas de Abril. Caminho, Lisboa 1999, ISBN 972-21-1254-6 . (Content: literary treatment of the Carnation Revolution )
- As memórias de um espírito: romance. Caminho, Lisboa 2001, ISBN 972-21-1428-X .
- Cabo Verde - Viagem pela história das ilhas. Caminho, Lisboa 2003, ISBN 972-21-1544-8 . (Content: illustrated book and travel report).
- O mar na Lajinha: romance. Caminho, Lisboa 2004, ISBN 972-21-1609-6 .
- Eva: romance. Caminho, Lisboa 2006, ISBN 972-21-1789-0 .
- A morte do ouvidor. Caminho, Lisboa 2010, ISBN 978-972-21-2114-9 .
- O Fiel Defunto , Caminho, Lisboa 2018, ISBN 9789722129282 .
literature
- Maria Manuela Lopes Guerreiro: Germano de Almeida ea nova escrita cabo-verdiana: um estudo de O Testamento do Sr. Napomuceno da Silva Araújo. Centro Cultura Português, Praia / Mindelo 1998.
- Paula Gândara: Construindo Germano Almeida: a consciência da desconstrução. Vega, Lisboa 2008, ISBN 978-972-699-875-4 .
Web links
- Short biography of the publishing house Caminho , Portuguese
- Germano Almeida in “lusofonia” , biobibliography, Portuguese
- Literature by and about Germano Almeida in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Terza Silva Lima-Neves: Almeida, Germano de . In: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . Oxford Press, Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5 , pp. 183 f .
- ^ Johanna Puyol: Entrevista con Germano Almeida: Cabo Verde, entre el humor y el compromiso. In: La Jibarilla. La Habana, Vol. 5, No. 271, 2006. , Spanish, accessed May 17, 2011
- ↑ João Carlos: Germano Almeida: A escrita nicht é ganha-pão, é prazer | DW | 06/13/2018. In: DW Português para África. Deutsche Welle, June 13, 2018, accessed June 13, 2018 (Portuguese).
- ↑ Isabel Lucas: Prémio Camões. O escritor cabo-verdiano Germano Almeida é o Prémio Camões 2018 . In: PÚBLICO . ( publico.pt [accessed May 21, 2018]).
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Almeida, Germano |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cruz, Romualdo (pseudonym); Almeida, Germano de |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Cape Verdean writer, publisher and lawyer |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 31, 1945 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Boa Vista , Portuguese Cape Verde |