Blog
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Art is the next Textile Industry – by Thorsten Nesch
Creative thoughts on the future livelihood of writers from German author Thorsten Nesch. “Art is the next Textile Industry” Dear reader, the headline is not my opinion and I hope we artists won’t go down that road but I’ll get back to this statement I had to hear later. Now I want to publicly answer an e-mail by my Canadian colleague and friend Paulo da Costa who forwarded the article „The artists struggle to survive in age of the blockbuster“ by Russell Smith, published in The Globe and Mail, Thursday, November 28, 2013. Russell Smith announces that the Internet didn’t live up to its alleged possibilities of individual niche…
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Atlantis – sang by Nancy Dutra
Talented Canadian singer Nancy Dutra has put to music one of my English poems from The Book of Water. Nancy has a distinctive and powerful voice that will delight any listener. Take a peek at this music video recorded under a Dragon Tree in Pico, Azores during the 2013 AzoresFringe Festival. And stay tuned for future collaborations between myself and Nancy. A talentosa cantora canadiana Nancy Dutra musicou e interpretou um dos meus poemas em língua inglesa e do meu manuscrito: The Book of Water. A Nancy tem uma voz marcante e poderosa que irá encantar qualquer ouvinte. Aproveitem para dar uma olhada neste vídeo gravado sob uma árvore Dragão…
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The Green and Purple Skin of the World – The Quill & Quire Review
The May issue of Quill & Quire features a review of The Green and Purple Skin of the World. The world described in paulo da costa’s second book of short fiction is a sensual one. A poet and translator, da costa favours imagistic language to explore characters’ relationships to one another and to nature, depicting a scenic tapestry of interpersonal phenomena that spans love, war, aging, and death. The book’s 16 stories tend to be brief, but the longer and more complex pieces are the most satisfying. A prioritization of setting and atmosphere over plot is established in the first story, “Flies,” in which two older Portuguese men lament the…
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Beneath Thin Skin – BC Bookworld feature
In BC’s Bookworld Summer Issue: a brief blurb and mini-interview on my new book. Beneath Thin Skin Possibly B.C.’s only Angolan-born author, paulo da costa was raised in Vale de Cambra, Portugal and arrived in Canada in 1989. Having won Best First Book, Canada & Caribbean Region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2003, the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize in 2002 and the Canongate Prize for Short-Fiction in 2001, da costa moved to B.C. in 2003 and now lives on Vancouver Island. His stories have been translated to Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. His new fiction collection is The Green and Purple Skin of the World…
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Sharp and True – a book review by the Coastal Spectator
Collection’s stories are sharp and true May 23, 2013 The Green and Purple Skin of the World By paulo da costa Freehand Books, 208 pages, $21.95 Reviewed by Yasuko Thanh Born in Angola, raised in Portugal, paulo da costa won the Commonwealth First Book Prize in 2003 for his collection The Scent of a Lie. In The Green and Purple Skin of the World, his first book of short fiction in 10 years, language and its power form a thread through many of the stories and words are highlighted in entertaining characters such as Dona Branca, who collects newspaper clippings of disasters and glues them in an old photo album.…
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Nuno Júdice wins prestigious Spanish poetry prize
The jury for this year’s edition of Spain’s Queen Sofia Ibero-American Poetry Prize meets in the Royal Palace in Madrid before announcing its decision. Portugal’s Nuno Judice was named the recipient of this year’s award for a body of poetry that is “very well-crafted, of a refined classicism,” yet at the same time deeply committed to reality, poet and jury member Jaime Siles said. EFE Madrid, May 16 (EFE).- Portugal’s Nuno Judice was selected Thursday as the winner of this year’s edition of the Queen Sofia Ibero-American Poetry Prize. The president of Spain’s National Heritage agency, Jose Rodriguez-Spiteri, announced the jury’s decision in a statement at the Royal Palace. The…
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Unhurried & Meditative – A National Post review
paulo da costa is concerned with the passage of time and its effects on generational attitudes and memories. Da costa’s writing is recondite, preferring a lyrical, almost poetic style of narration. The stories in The Green and Purple Skin of the World (Freehand Books, 206 pp; $21.95) have an unhurried, meditative aspect that suits the material, but can also be wearisome over the course of an entire collection. The Table is typical of many of the stories in the book. Not much happens on the level of plot; the author is more concerned with dissecting the relationship between a mother and her son, and using that relationship to examine the…
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Writers on Reading: paulo da costa
Writers on Reading: paulo da costa What book is currently on your bedside table? I read several books concurrently. On my night table I always build a leaning Tower of Pisa made of books. I am reading Saunders, Dobozy, Galeano, Tranströmer, Ian Williams, J. Vigna, J. Donaldson, Shaun Tan, Mia Couto, Jori Graham and more. When and where do you like to read? Outdoors, in nature, preferably near moving water… otherwise in bed, preferably still. What was the last great book you read? Several come to mind. Out Stealing Horses-Per Petterson, Cloud Atlas-Mitchell, The Lizard Cage-Karen Connely, Blindness-Saramago, The Book of Chameleons –Agualusa. Was there a book that changed your…
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Literary Bites in Bits: A Short Story List by paulo da costa
Each book in this selection is sliced in bite-sized portions, yet none miss any of the essential vitamins and minerals, delivering satisfying nourishment despite their small portions. Think of them as power-bars. These six books share in common a succinct, power-charged delivery of texts in condensed servings that leave me purring and yummying with delight. For those readers, like me, who appreciate snacking, these works exemplify the type of book I carry around in my shoulder bag, to sneak, peek and bite into, while waiting in lines, while moving along the day-to-day river of busyness. (…) Complete feature here
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A Verde e Púrpura Pele do Mundo (conto)
Cara A, Monte das Lameiras, pátio três semanas A manhã desperta e suspira nos pulmões dos pássaros. Inauguro o dia nos degraus da entrada, roupão de banho vestido e a fazer bolas de sabão. A música dos pássaros começa a derreter o ténue véu de geada que encobre o chão. Ligaste-me a noite passada para dizer que não me irias esperar ao aeroporto Pearson. Vais estar em Victoria a visitar a tua tia. Neste canto da Europa o sol brilha por entre o azul de Inverno. Brilham as laranjas nas árvores e os kivis enrugam-se nas ramadas. Toda esta fruta não me seduz a ficar. O melro foi…
