The Government intends to publish journalistic work by José Craveirinha (1922- 2003), the country's greatest poet, according to information advanced Saturday by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Eldevina Materula, during the celebrations of the author's birth centenary.

The idea is to praise Craveirinha's achievements as a journalist, a profession he exercised in several media, including "Notícias", "O Brado Africano", "Tribuna", "Notícias da Tarde", "Voz de Moçambique", "Voz Africana", "Notícias da Beira" and "Diário de Moçambique". Craveirinha also went down in history as the first unionized journalist.

In addition to the publication of his work, the author will receive a bust in the courtyard of the Mozambican Writers Association (AEMO), of which he was the first president of the General Assembly and which instituted, in his honor, the Craveinha Award, the highest literary award in the country, valued at 25 thousand dollars (more than 1.5 million meticais).

"We want the bust to serve as a pilgrimage site, anyone can take pictures with it, as happens in other countries," said Carlos Paradona, secretary-general of AEMO, adding that it is a head-to-waist portrait of Craveirinha, with two chairs beside it for visitors.

According to Paradona, the association is also making efforts to have the Government declare May 28th as the National Day of Poetry.

"His poems are the sum of the Mozambican patriotic feeling, we cannot forget that very early on his voice was raised against colonialism and he was already giving a prognosis about the future of Mozambique, talking about independence," he explained.

For its part, the writer's family explained that the celebrations for the poet-major's centennial are still at the beginning, giving the example of Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), whose cycle of celebrations runs until 2023.

"The most important thing is that they haven't forgotten him, it's not because he makes a lot of noise that he becomes more recognized. The centennial is just beginning, there is the centennial and the post-centennial," said Zeca Craveirinha, the poet's son.

The celebrations for Craveirinha's 100th birthday if he were alive lasted all day Saturday. They started in the morning with the laying of a wreath at the writer's crypt in Praça dos Heróis Moçambicanos, and then went to Fundação Craveirinha, the house where the writer lived, before music and poetry concerts were held at the Maputo City Council and at the Guilhermina space, in Matola.

Author of dozens of books such as "Karingana ua Karingana", "Xigubo" and "Maria", José Craveirinha was born in Maputo, on May 28, 1922, and died on February 6, 2003, in South Africa, victim of illness. He was the first African to win, in 1991, the Camões Prize, the most important literary award of the Portuguese language. (Notícias)