José Craveirinha

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José Craveirinha (born May 28, 1922 in Lourenço Marques , Portuguese East Africa , † February 6, 2003 in Maputo , Mozambique , according to other information in Johannesburg ) was a Mozambican poet.

life and work

As the child of a Portuguese father and an African mother from the Ronga ethnic group, Craveirinha grew up in the language and culture of Portugal . He described himself as an autodidact . His poems, written in Portuguese and partly supplemented by vocabulary of the Ronga language ( Xironga ), deal with topics such as racism and the Portuguese colonial rule in Mozambique. He was one of the pioneers in Africa of the Négritude movement and is considered to be one of the most important African poets who found recognition far beyond his region.

In 1964 his first volume of poetry, Xigubo (“War Dance ”) with poems from the 1950s, was published in Lisbon and was immediately confiscated. In this volume he also propagated the extinction of whites. He later recognized that with the invasion of whites, a new mixed Mozambican culture had emerged. He tried to incorporate the tradition of the Ronga in his poetry and to decolonize and "Mozambique" the Portuguese language. The boldness and fervor of his exclamatory poetry and his sense of rhythm conveyed a new Mozambican regional and later national feeling.

Because of his membership in a cell of FRELIMO , the Mozambican Liberation Front, he was held in solitary confinement in the infamous Vila Algarve by the secret service PIDE of the fascist Portuguese regime from 1965 to 1969 . When FRELIMO came to power in 1974, Craveirinha was released from prison and appointed deputy director of the national press.

As a journalist, Craveirinha has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers, including O Brado Africano , Notícias , Tribuna , Notícias da Tarde , Voz de Moçambique , Notícias da Beira , Diário de Moçambique, and Voz Africana . He also wrote under the pseudonyms Mário Vieira, José Cravo, Jesuíno Cravo, J. Cravo, JC and Abílio Cossa.

honors and awards

Craveirinha was awarded the Portuguese Prémio Camões in 1991 , the most important honor for lusophone literature. Several times he was in talks for the Nobel Prize for Literature .

In 2003 he was declared a "national hero" by President Joaquim Chissano . Chissano highlighted Craveirinha's contribution to the fight against colonialism. The most important Mozambican literary prize, the Prémio José Craveirinha de Literatura , which has been awarded since 2003, was named after him.

Other awards:

  • “Prémio Cidade de Lourenço Marques”, 1959
  • "Prémio Reinaldo Ferreira", Centro de Arte e Cultura da Beira, 1961
  • "Prémio de Ensaio", Centro de Arte e Cultura da Beira, 1961
  • "Prémio Alexandre Dáskalos", Casa dos Estudantes do Império, Lisbon, Portugal, 1962
  • “Premio Nazionale di Poesia de Italia”, Italy, 1975
  • “Prémio Lotus”, Associação de Escritores Afro-Asiáticos, 1983
  • Government of Mozambique “Nachingwea” medal, 1985
  • "Medalha de Mérito", Secretaria de Estado da Cultura de São Paulo, Brazil, 1987
  • "Grau de Oficial Grão-Mestre", Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul , Brazil, 1990
  • "Prémio Camões", 1991
  • “Prémio Vida Literária”, AEMO Associação de Escritores Moçambicanos , 1997
  • “Grau de Comendador da Ordem Infante Dom Henrique ”, Portugal, 1997
  • "Ordem de Amizade e Paz", Mozambique, 1997
  • “Prémio Consagração Fundac - Rui de Noronha”, Mozambique, 1999
  • “Prémio Voices of Africa”, Ordfront / Leopard Publishing House, Sweden, 2002
  • Honorary doctorate from Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique, 2002
  • "Medalia de Oro dal Comune di Concesio (Brescia)"
  • "Medalha de Ouro do Município de Aljezur", Portugal
  • "Medalha de Ouro do Primeiro Grau do Município de Sintra", Portugal

Works

  • Chigubo ( Xibugo , lyric). Lisbon: Casa dos Estudantes do Império, 1964; 2nd edition Maputo: INLD, 1980.
  • Cantico a un dio di Catrame (poetry, bilingual Portuguese-Italian). Translation and preface by Joyce Lussu. Milan, Italy: Lerici, 1966.
  • Karingana and others karingana (poems, "Era uma vez"). Lourenço Marques [Maputo]: Académica, 1974; 2nd edition Maputo: INLD, 1982.
  • Cela 1 (poems). Maputo: INLD, 1980.
  • Izbranie (Selected Works, in Russian). Moscow, USSR: Molodoya Gvardiya, 1984.
  • Maria (poetry). Lisbon, Portugal: ALAC (África Literatura Arte e Cultura), 1988.
  • Voglio essere tamburo (poetry, bilingual Portuguese-Italian). Venice, Italy: Centro Internazionale della grafica di Venezia, Coop, 1991.
  • Babalaze das Hienas (lyric poetry). Maputo: AEMO, 1997.
  • Hamina e outros contos (poetry). Maputo: Njira, 1997.
  • Contacto e outras crónicas . Maputo: Centro Cultural Português, 1999
  • Poesia Toda (poetry). Lisbon, Portugal: Caminho, 2000.
  • Obra Poética (poetry). Maputo: UEM, 2002.
  • Dictation (lyric). Stockholm: Ordfront, 2002.
  • Poemas da Prisão (Poetry). Maputo: Njira, 2003.
  • Poesia Erótica (Poetry). Maputo: Texto Editores, 2004.

Activity as a trainer

Craveirinha also played soccer and coached other athletes. For Maria de Lurdes Mutola he arranged an athlete scholarship in the USA , she won a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney . His son Stelio held the national long jump record.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ José Craveirinha: The lyric work. In: Kindlers new literature lexicon , ed. by Walter Jens. Volume 4, Munich 1996, p. 280 f.
  2. ^ Russell G. Hamilton: Voices from an Empire: A History of Afro-Portuguese Literature. University of Minnesota Press, 197, pp. 202 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Craveirinha, José
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mozambican poet
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Lourenço Marques , Portuguese East Africa
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 2003
Place of death Maputo , Mozambique