José Craveirinha

Mozambican writer José Craveirinha was born on May 28, 1922, in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), and died on February 6, 2003, in South Africa. The son of a father from the Algarve region whose family had left for Mozambique in 1908 in search of fortune, he studied at the "Primeiro de Janeiro" school, which belonged to the Freemasons. As a teenager, he began attending the African Association. He collaborated in...The African Cry , which dealt with local issues and primarily concerned the most vulnerable segment of the population. He campaigned against racism at Notícias, where he worked, and was the first officially unionized journalist. In 1958, he also began working at Imprensa Nacional. He continued in News until the founding of the newspaper The Tribune , in 1962. Between 1964 and 1968 he was imprisoned due to his connection with FRELIMO, but he had the opportunity to meet the painter Malangatana in prison.
He began writing early, but his poetry took a long time to be published. In Lisbon, the first work to appear was... Xigubo , in 1964, through the Casa dos Estudantes do Império (House of Students of the Empire). From a certain point onwards, the author's political awareness began to be reflected in works such as The Cry and the Drum .
Although his work reflects the influence of the Surrealists, it is strongly marked by a popular and typically Mozambican character. His poetry has a social character that is rooted in the deepest layers of the Mozambican people.
A writer with strong emotional ties to Portugal, he was awarded the Camões Prize in 1991 and received decorations from the presidents of Portugal and Mozambique, Jorge Sampaio and Joaquim Chissano respectively.
Vice-president of the Portuguese Language Bibliographic Fund, and recipient of the "Literary Life" award from the Mozambican Writers' Association, he was honored on May 28, 2002, following the Mozambican government's initiative to dedicate the year 2002 to José Craveirinha.