The Pilgrimage of Mário Cláudio: 55 years of literary life.

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In 2024, Mário Cláudio's literary life will mark its 55th anniversary, which began in 1969 with the publication of his book of poems O Ciclo de Cypris. In addition to this ephemeris, the novel Amadeo celebrates the 40th anniversary of its publication, having been awarded the Grand Prize for Romance and Novella by the Portuguese Writers' Association in 1984. In fact, Mário Cláudio is the only Portuguese author to be honoured three times with the APE prize - Amadeo (1984); Retrato de Rapaz (2015); Tríptico da Salvação (2019).

The fiction writer from Porto has published more than thirty novels, as well as chronicles, plays, short stories, biographies and collections of essays. He is not only one of the most prolific authors in contemporary Portuguese literature, but also one of the recipients of various literary and cultural awards.
Mário Cláudio's work goes beyond the strictly aesthetic-literary field. Starting with literature, the author summons up questions related to identity, culture, memory and place in a fertile, suggestive and fluid way, reflecting concerns from the fields of philosophy, sociology, history and the arts. In this way, Mário Cláudio is a complete and multifaceted author, who demonstrates the value of the humanities and their scope and greatness through interdisciplinarity, punctuating thought and dialogue between literature and other arts and areas of knowledge.

For these reasons, Group 1 ‘Grupo 1 - Literatura e Cultura Portuguesas.’, from CLEPUL, the University of Lisbon, (other universities), the municipalities of Amarante and Paredes de Coura, decided to organise A Peregrinação de Mário Cláudio: nos 55 anos de vida Literária. International Congress, as a way of honouring the author and promoting the reading, study and reflection of a profoundly Portuguese and universal work.