“Friend of Portugal”, “in love with the Portuguese language”. Marcelo and Costa mourn the death of Nélida Piñon
The President of the Republic expressed regret at the death of the Brazilian writer Nélida Piñon, this Saturday, at the age of 85, and highlighted his connection to Portugal, where he ended up dying, recalling that he wrote his last book here.
In a note on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states: “I express my regret at the death of the writer Nélida Piñon, the first woman to preside over the Brazilian Academy of Letters”.
Recalling that the writer was of Galician descent and that she was granted Spanish nationality this year, the President underlined that Nélida Piñon was a “friend of Portugal” and a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. In addition to a “usual presence in publishing and literary meetings in our country, having written her last book in our country, significantly entitled ‘One Day I will arrive in Sagres'”, he adds.
“Fictionist, essayist, winner of several Brazilian awards [o Jabuti, entre muitos outros]latin americans [Prémio Juan Rulfo] and Europeans [Prémio Príncipe das Astúrias, Prémio Vergílio Ferreira]the author of ‘A República dos Sonhos’ also thanked teaching and journalism”, the President also mentions in the note.
“In love with the Portuguese language”
The Prime Minister, António Costa, also mourned the death of Nélida Piñon, “a lover of the Portuguese language”.
“Brazilian literature today lost one of its great writers”, said António Costa in a publication on the social network Twitter.
The head of government recalled that Nélida Piñon, who died today at the age of 85, was the “first woman to chair the centennial Brazilian Academy of Letters”, stressing that the writer “was passionate about the Portuguese language”.
Brazilian writer Nélida Piñon died today in Lisbon at the age of 85, according to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, which describes her as “one of the greatest representatives of Brazilian literature”.
Author of more than 20 books, including novels, short stories, children’s literature, essays and memoirs, in 1996/97 she became the first woman, in 100 years, to preside over the Brazilian Academy of Letters, for which she was elected in 1989 in the succession of Aurélio Buarque de Holanda.
Nélida Piñon, who made her debut with the novel “Guia-mapa Gabriel Arcanjo” published in 1961, received the Juan Rulfo International Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature in 1995, which was the first time for a woman and an author in Portuguese, as well as the Bienal Nestlé Prize, in the novel category, for the body of work, in 1991, and the APCA Prize and the Pen Clube Fiction Prize, both in 1985, for the novel “A República dos Sonhos”.
The Brazilian Academy of Letters highlights precisely this novel in the writer’s journey, a work about a family of Galician immigrants in Brazil, in which “she makes reflections on Galicia, Spain and Brazil”.
Also distinguished by the Brazilian Academy of Letters is his 1972 work “A casa da passion”, which received the Mário de Andrade Prize, “one of his best and best known novels”.
His most recent work, “Um Dia Chegarei a Sagres”, released in 2020, won the Pen Clube de Literatura.
Nélida Piñon graduated in journalism in 1956 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, having collaborated in newspapers and literary magazines and was a correspondent in Brazil for the magazine Mundo Nuevo, from Paris, and assistant editor of Cadernos Brasileiros.
The writer had a close bond with Spain, as her parents and grandparents were Galician emigrants in Brazil, and she was granted Spanish nationality earlier this year.
In 2005, he received the Prince of Asturias award.
Nélida Piñon died in a hospital in Lisbon, according to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, adding that the cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
The body will be transferred to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to be veiled in the “Petit Trianon”, the main hall of the academy, which was like a second home for the writer.