José Craveirinha
Encyclopedia
José Craveirinha was born in Maputo
, Mozambique
(then Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique) and is today considered the greatest poet
of that country.
The child of a Portuguese father and a black mother of the Ronga
ethnicity, Craveirinha was raised in the language and culture of Portugal
. His poems, written in Portuguese
, address such issues as racism
and the Portuguese colonial
domination of Mozambique. He was one of the Africa
n pioneers of the Négritude
movement.
As a journalist, Craveirinha contributed to numerous Mozambican 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 played football
and coached other athletes. He arranged an athletic scholarship in the United States
for Maria de Lurdes Mutola, who won a gold medal in track and field
at the Olympics
in 2000, and his son Stelio also held the national long jump record.
Craveirinha also wrote under the pseudonyms Mário Vieira, José Cravo, Jesuíno Cravo, J. Cravo, J.C., and Abílio Cossa. He was imprisoned in solitary confinement by the fascist Portuguese PIDE
régime from 1965 to 1969 for his membership in a cell of FRELIMO, the leading movement for the liberation of Mozambique from Portuguese rule. When FRELIMO seized power in 1974, Craveirinha was freed from prison and appointed vice-director of the national press.
Craveirinha was awarded the Prémio Camões, the world's highest honour for lusophone literature, in 1991. He was considered several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 2003, Craveirinha was declared a "national hero" by President Joaquim Chissano
of Mozambique, who praised Craveirinha's literary contribution to the fight against colonialism.
Maputo
Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
(then Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique) and is today considered the greatest poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
of that country.
The child of a Portuguese father and a black mother of the Ronga
Ronga
Ronga is a South-Eastern Bantu language in the Tswa–Ronga family spoken just South of Maputo in Mozambique. It extends a little into South Africa...
ethnicity, Craveirinha was raised in the language and culture of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. His poems, written in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, address such issues as racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and the Portuguese colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
domination of Mozambique. He was one of the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n pioneers of the Négritude
Négritude
Négritude is a literary and ideological movement, developed by francophone black intellectuals, writers, and politiciansin France in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas.The Négritude...
movement.
As a journalist, Craveirinha contributed to numerous Mozambican 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 played football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
and coached other athletes. He arranged an athletic scholarship in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for Maria de Lurdes Mutola, who won a gold medal in track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
at the Olympics
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in 2000, and his son Stelio also held the national long jump record.
Craveirinha also wrote under the pseudonyms Mário Vieira, José Cravo, Jesuíno Cravo, J. Cravo, J.C., and Abílio Cossa. He was imprisoned in solitary confinement by the fascist Portuguese PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
régime from 1965 to 1969 for his membership in a cell of FRELIMO, the leading movement for the liberation of Mozambique from Portuguese rule. When FRELIMO seized power in 1974, Craveirinha was freed from prison and appointed vice-director of the national press.
Craveirinha was awarded the Prémio Camões, the world's highest honour for lusophone literature, in 1991. He was considered several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 2003, Craveirinha was declared a "national hero" by President Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Alberto Chissano served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. Since stepping down as president, Chissano has become an elder statesman and is called upon by international bodies, such as the United Nations, to be an envoy or...
of Mozambique, who praised Craveirinha's literary contribution to the fight against colonialism.
Prizes
- “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, LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal, 1962 - “Prémio Nacional de Poesia de Itália”, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 1975 - “Prémio Lotus”, Associação de Escritores Afro-Asiáticos, 1983
- “Nachingwea” Medal of the government of Mozambique, 1985
- Medalha de Mérito, Secretaria de Estado da Cultura de São Paulo, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, 1987 - “Grau de Oficial Grão-Mestre”, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul, Brasil, 1990
- “Prémio CamõesCamões PrizeThe Camões Prize , named after Luís de Camões is the most important literary prize for the Portuguese language. It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Fundação Biblioteca Nacional and the Brazilian Departamento Nacional do Livro to the author of an outstanding work written in Portuguese.It...
”, Associação de Escritores Afro-Asiáticos, 1991 - “Prémio Vida Literária”, AEMO - Associação de Escritores Moçambicanos, 1997
- “Grau de Comendador da Ordem Infante Dom Henrique”, PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, 1997 - “Ordem de Amizade e Paz”, Moçambique, 1997
- “Prémio Consagração Fundac - Rui de Noronha”, Moçambique, 1999
- “Prémio Voices of Africa”, Ordfront/Leopard Publishing House - Suécia, 2002
- “Grau de Doutor Honoris Causa”, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane - Moçambique, 2002
- “Medalha de Ouro da Comuna de Concesio (Brescia)”
- “Medalha de Ouro do Município de Aljezur”, Portugal
- “Medalha de Ouro do Primeiro Grau do Município de Sintra”, Portugal
Books published
- Chigubo (poetry). Lisbon: Casa dos Estudantes do Império, 1964; 2d ed. Maputo: INLD, 1980.
- Cantico a un dio di Catrame (poetry, bilingual Portuguese–Italian). Translation and preface by Joyce Lussu. MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
: Lerici, 1966. - Karingana ua karingana (poetry, “Era uma vez”). Lourenço Marques [Maputo]: Académica, 1974; 2d ed. Maputo: INLD, 1982.
- Cela 1 (poetry). Maputo: INLD, 1980.
- Izbranie (selected works, in Russian). MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, USSR: Molodoya Gvardiya, 1984. - Maria (poetry). Lisbon, Portugal: ALAC (África Literatura Arte e Cultura), 1988.
- Voglio essere tamburo (poetry). Venezia, Italia: Centro Internazionale della grafica di Venezia - Coop, 1991.
- Babalaze das Hienas (poetry). Maputo: AEMO, 1997.
- Hamina e outros contos (poetry). Maputo: Njira, 1997.
- Contacto e outras crónicas. Maputo: Centro Cultural Português, 1999
- Poesia Toda (poetry). Lisboa, Portugal: Caminho, 2000.
- Obra Poética (poetry). Maputo: UEM, 2002.
- Dikter (poetry). Stockholm: Ordfront, 2002.
- Poemas da Prisão (poetry). Maputo: Njira, 2003.
- Poesia Erótica (poetry). Maputo: Texto Editores, 2004.