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Gangue de Guimarães
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FRIDAY 26 JUNE, 9:30PM
Apanhar um Peixe com as mãos
Writing a book is casting memory into the future. How do we look at life and rewrite it into stories, poems, and fictions that nourish the imagination of millions of readers? Memory is as hard to grasp as a fish with bare hands—but how do we hold onto it, shape it, and fictionalize it from multiple points of view? Words, in the form of literature, take on a central role in creating worlds that, as Oscar Wilde once suggested, often place life in perspective: does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?
On the last Friday of each month*, at the Casa da Memória de Guimarães, we will be in conversation with a guest about memory, literature, and many other things. This informal gathering will be punctuated by open readings. Bring poems, excerpts, micro-stories, or words you would like to read, and join us for a glass of wine and (more than) literary exchanges.
Gonçalo M. Tavares, born in Luanda in 1970, is a writer and professor of Theory of Science at the University of Lisbon, and is today considered one of the central figures of contemporary Portuguese literature. He made his debut with Livro da Dança (2001) and has since developed a distinctive body of work marked by formal experimentation and reflection on science, politics, and language, now translated and published in around 70 countries.
Among his early recognitions are the Prémio Branquinho da Fonseca (awarded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Expresso) for O Senhor Valéry (2002), and the Prémio Revelação de Poesia da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores for Investigações.
Throughout his career, several works have achieved international recognition, including Jerusalém (2004), which received the Prémio Literário José Saramago (2005), the Prémio LER/Millennium BCP (2004), and the Prémio Portugal Telecom (2007); Aprender a Rezar na Era da Técnica (2007), awarded the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (2010); the project O Bairro, distinguished with the Prix Laure-Bataillon (2021); and O Osso do Meio (2020), winner of the Prémio Oceanos (2021). Dozens of his books have received literary prizes in different countries, and he has also been a finalist multiple times for the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina.
In March of this year, he was awarded the prestigious Prémio Formentor das Letras. Among his most recent publications is O Fim dos Estados Unidos da América (2025). The breadth and originality of his work led José Saramago to anticipate the possibility of a future Nobel Prize.
Free admission, subject to venue capacity
Duration: c. 120 mins
Ages 6+
Vídeos
This performance will include audio description.
An additional commentary intended for visually impaired audiences (blind and partially sighted people), referring to body language, facial expressions and movement. It consists of a narrator speaking during the performance, in the natural pauses of the audio, describing what is happening on stage (and what cannot be perceived through hearing alone).