The 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature has been awarded to Mozambican author Antonio Emilio Leite Couto (Mia Couto). The first Mozambican author to be nominated for and to win this prize, Couto noted: “It is a sad moment for Mozambique because we are starting a war that we thought would never come back again. So to receive this good news is something like a compensation for me.” Born in 1955, his first novel Sleepwalking Land was published in 1992. Gabriella Ghermandi, who nominated him for the prize, said: “He is an author who addresses not just his country but the entire world, all human beings.” The $50,000 biennial prize is sponsored by the University of Oklahoma, the Neustadt family, and the university’s magazine World Literature Today. Often called the “American Nobel, it is the only international literary award for which poets, novelists and playwrights are equally eligible. Read more in today’s NPR article.
Laura
