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Honourable Mayor of Vila Real
Honourable President of the Casa de Mateus Foundation
Distinguished Laureate
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all I wish to greet poet Fernando Echevarría and sincerely congratulate him for the prize unanimously awarded by the jury to his latest book.

This is a prize which has distinguished some of the more relevant Portuguese literary works over the last quarter of a century.

I equally wish to congratulate the Casa de Mateus Foundation, represented by its president, Fernando de Albuquerque, for instituting this prize and for the diligence placed in its organization.

The list of names of those who have been awarded the D.Dinis Prize, which this year is joined by Fernando Echevarria, is the best praise that can be made for the pains taken by this House on behalf of culture and the arts.

Fernando Echevarría is a name that those who are more heedful to the world of literature have known for some time.

The members of the jury have already proven here, much better than I could, the excellence of his work, recognizably difficult, but of great sensitivity and revealing of deep thought on the nature of man and of objects.

In Portugal as well as abroad, critics have many times underlined the quality of Echevarria’s work, its rigour and demand for excellence.

Several of his previous books had already been contemplated with prestigious prizes.

It is thus with great satisfaction that I am here today to award him the D. Dinis Prize and, at the same time, pay tribute to the man and poet who last year celebrated 50 years of an intense and fertile literary life.

Pay tribute to the man, because Fernando Echevarría, apart from an acclaimed author, is also a man of strong convictions, a man with an open and free spirit, proven much earlier than April 25.

Pay tribute to the poet because, in the silence of his reserved nature, Echevarria has patiently been building an unique work, as only the true creative works of art can be, and of which Portuguese literature may be proud of.

It was this man, this poet, to whom I had the pleasure, on June 10 last, to attribute, in the name of the State of Portugal, the Honour of Grand Commander of the order of Infante D. Henrique, which aims to distinguish “those that rendered relevant services to Portugal, in the Country and abroad”.

I have said so several times: in today’s global world, in which countries progressively abandon traditional isolation, the work of authors, and of all those whose activity contributes towards the preservation and maintaining alive our language, are a decisive pillar in the assertion of collective identity.

It is thus our duty to recognize the value of those that ensure, more often than not without any other return than the joy of writing, the continuity and the permanent renewal of Portuguese, as a language which adapts itself to the accelerated change of a cultural and technological reality. 

But, above all, we need to pay very special attention to the teaching of our maternal language, without of course prejudicing that of other languages, also indispensable to answer the challenges of globalization.

We cannot, by any possible means, allow that the learning of Portuguese, so essential for individual achievement and social cohesion should cease to be one of the priorities of our teaching system.

I thus renew my congratulations to Fernando Echevarría, who so worthily represents here the writers who throughout the centuries dignified our language, and I hope that he continues for many more years to provide us with the privilege of his poetry.

Thank you very much.