The Mozambican journalist and writer, Sérgio Raimundo, will launch his first book in prose "A Ilha dos Mulatos", at the ArtRoom gallery in Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday afternoon.

It is a novel set on Mozambique Island, in the northernmost province of Nampula, - and, according to history, where the Portuguese established the first Mozambican capital, 'already on the verge of disappearing'.

The plot centers on a Portuguese-descendant "mulatto" family surrounded by death and investigation, which makes the narrative approach the detective genre, where each character is his or her own narrator.

The book, which is being published by Imprensa Nacional de Portugal, and is in our hands today, also mirrors contemporary Mozambique, presenting situations that range from homosexuality to extramarital affairs and end in the dramatic armed violence that assails the province of Cabo Delgado, very close to "A Ilha dos Mulatos".

The presentation of the work will count, besides the author, with the presence of Professor of Literature Fátima Mendonça and the writer Miguel Luís.

It was through that door that the water, sewn in wave cloths, moved without needing a key to get in. As it entered you could hear footsteps of another water rushing out.

The work was awarded the INCM/Eugénio Lisboa Literary Prize in 2019, with a value of five thousand euros [at the time about 341,050 meticais]. The award, in honor of the Mozambican writer Eugénio Lisboa, aims to give visibility to relevant works in the field of literary prose by Mozambican writers. However, foreign writers who have lived in the "Beloved Land" for at least ten years can also apply.

Sérgio Simão Raimundo, also known by the pseudonym "Military Poet", was born in Maputo in 1992. He began his career in the written arts as a poet. In 2015 he released the book "Apron of a Domestic Poet". Meanwhile, more and more he immersed himself in the letters by publishing texts, as a columnist, in national and international newspapers, including tabloids. He has a small collection (cardboard) of poetry published under the heteronym of René Peter, "Synthesis and Fragments of Emotion. He has long participated in anthologies of prose and verse, in several latitudes.

"The Island of Mozambique was gradually being eaten by the waters of the sea. Silence began to inhabit the entire island; it was no longer an island, but a ruin of stones worn away by seawater and polished by the hands of the wind. [From the white door of the São Sebastião Fortress only a pillar remained that had more iron than cement. It was through this door that the water, sewn in fabrics of waves, moved without needing a key to enter. As it entered you could hear footsteps of other water rushing out." [Excerpt taken from the website of the National Press of Portugal, at 16.11.2021].