On the 18th June 2010, the world of Literature lost one of its great names, José Saramago. The 87 year old Portuguese writer died at his home in Lanzarote, Spain. According to his editor, Zeferino Coelho in a article published on the Portuguese Newspaper “O Público”, Saramago died around 12.30pm (Lisbon time) in what he describes as a very peaceful way.
He was born on 16th November 1922, in a small village called Azinhaga, in the town of Golegã , Portugal. With only two Saramago moved to Lisbon where he grew up. Before being a great writer José Saramago had several jobs including translator.
The nature of his work always been very controversial. With very strong views on subjects like religion, politics, etc, Saramago was loved by many and hated by some. But he never felt intimidated by his big enemies, instead he kept his very strong views and went on with his wonderful work.
In 1998, José Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was 76. He was the second Portuguese national to ever be awarded a Nobel Prize. The first was Professor Egas Moniz who was awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949.
His amazing work comprises great books like: “Manual of painting and calligraphy”, “Baltasar and Blimunda”, “The stone raft”, and the polemic “The gospel according to Jesus Christ”.
The funeral was held in Lisbon. Thousands of mourners were present to say their last goodbye to this great writer of our times.
THE UPDATED WORDS TEAM
* This article was written by the Updated Words Team with information from Portuguese Newspaper “O Público” and Wikipedia.
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