
Biography
Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. The Midwife of Torment is his latest book of fiction.
Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.
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BOOK AWARDS:
2023 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
2020 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
2003 Caribbean & Canada Region Commonwealth Writers Prize – First Book
2002 W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize
2001 Canongate Short-Fiction Prize (Scotland)
1999 CBC Alberta Anthology – Short Story
Portuguese
2003 ProVerbo . Prémio – Poesia (Poetry Prize – Portuguese)
2003 ProVerbo . Prémio – Conto (Short-Story Prize – Portuguese)
paulo da costa lives in Mohkinstsis / Calgary which is located on the lands of the Treaty 7 People:
-The Blackfoot from Siksika, Kainai and Piikani,
-The Dene-Sarceee from Tsuut’ina,
-And the Stoney-Nakoda from Morley, the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley First Nations.
He also walks in the footsteps of the Metis People from Region 3, Metis Nation of Alberta.