Books by Mia Couto

Mia Couto was born in 1955 in the Mozambican city of Beira. In the early 1970's he moved to Maputo to begin medical studies but did not continue because of his involvement in the independence struggle and the start of a career in journalism. He was to become director of the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM), and the magazine 'Tempo' and later the official daily newspaper 'Noticias'.
His poems have appeared in Mozambican magazines since he was 14 and in 1983 his first volume of poetry 'Raiz d'orvalho' (Root of Dew) was published. Vozes Anoitecidas, now translated as 'Voices Made Night', was first published in Mozambique in 1986, and in 1991 it was awarded the National Prize for Literature there. It has been published in Portugal and Italy, where it gained wide critical acclaim. The stories have also been adapted for radio and stage.
Mia Couto lives and works in Maputo as a journalist and has also taken up university studies once more. In 1988 he was awarded a prize by the Organisation of Mozambican Journalists (ONJ) for his regular 'cronicando' columns in 'Noticias' which the newspaper published in book form in 1989. His second collection of stories, 'Cada homem e uma raca (Everyman in a Race), was published in Portugal in 1991.