Interview by Rui Pastorin
Yesterday marked the centenary of celebrated Portuguese symbolist poet Camilo Pessanha (1867-1926), with an event honouring him held yesterday at Casa Garden.
Gathering writers and poets from Macau and Portugal as speakers, the event titled “To Set Sail on a Ship with No Destination: Honouring Camilo Pessanha on the Centenary of His Death” was held mainly in Portuguese and drew a considerable crowd of listeners. It was a part of, and is a precursor to “Macau Literary Festival: The Script Road” that will kick off with its 15th edition this Thursday.
Highlighting Pessanha’s continued significance to the Post on the sidelines of yesterday’s event, the Macau Literary Festival Organiser Ricardo Pinto pointed out: “Camilo Pessanha is one of the most important poets of Portuguese literature and his connection with Macau and with the Chinese culture makes him a very, very unique person in our literary universe”.
Pinto highlighted that the literary figure continues to have an important place in the literary world, adding that Pessanha “is considered one of the best, if not the best, symbolistic poets of Europe” who should be “celebrated more and more”.
Aside from the author’s significance, yesterday’s presentation saw speakers talk about other topics including the calls for a museum and statue of Pessanha to be created in Macau, as noted by Pinto. It was also discussed that Pessanha’s work and significance should be talked about, studied and integrated to allow students to learn more about him, with Pinto highlighting that “his poetry should still be taught to our children”.
Details of an historical walking tour this coming weekend were also announced at yesterday’s event. Led by Christopher Chu and Maggie Hoi Pui Man, co-authors of the book “Camilo Pessanha’s Macau Stories”, the upcoming event will present a walking route and its relationship to Camilo Pessanha’s time in Macau.
Meanwhile, with the 15th edition of the literary festival opening soon, Pinto also underlined to the Post that an extensive programme is in store for the annual event with talks by a line-up of Chinese and Portuguese authors, as well as those coming from other parts of the world. From science fiction and poems to politics and the opium war, Pinto noted that there is “a diverse kind of writing” to be found from the invited variety of authors.
Beyond books, the event, which is slated to run until March 15, will also include an exhibition and documentary screenings, as well as concerts at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM), altogether presenting a lot of sessions for festivalgoers to choose from.
One can find more details on the upcoming festival by visiting https://macauliteraryfestival.org/.
A discussion takes place during yesterday’s “To Set Sail on a Ship with No Destination: Honouring Camilo Pessanha on the Centenary of His Death” at Casa Garden. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
