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Mia Couto: The Mozambican author who turned his back on coloialism

BBC
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77% Informative

Poet Mia Couto was born in Mozambique in 1953 after fleeing the dictatorial rule of Antonio Salazar .

As a child, he was cripplingly shy, unable to speak up for himself in public or even at home.

Being of European origin, Couto related most easily to the black elite that existed under Portuguese colonial rule - the "assimilados".

Couto is well-known throughout the Portuguese -speaking world - Angola, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome in Africa , as well as Brazil and Portugal .

In 2013 , he won the 100,000 ($ 109,000 ; 85,500 ) Camões prize, the biggest prize for a writer in Portuguese .

In 2014 he was awarded the $ 50,000 ( 39,000 ) Neustadt , regarded as the most prestigious literary award after the Nobel .

Couto was due to have attended a literary festival in Kenya last month , but was forced to cancel the trip after mass protests.