Mozambican writer Mia Couto won the PEN America-2025 Literary Prize this Friday, becoming the first Portuguese-speaking writer to be honored with this PEN America award for international literature.

In an official PEN America press release, the jury of the prize justifies its choice: "Mia Couto's writing probes the troubled history of his homeland as well as the essential enigmas of human identity and existence". The jury also said that Mia Couto has occupied "a unique place in the landscape of African and world literature".

The writer is joined by two other figures, Lebanese-American playwright Mona Mansour, who will be honored with the PEN/Laura Pels Award from the International Foundation for Theatre, and Charles H. Rowell, founder of Callaloo, a publication that celebrates writers and visual artists of African descent around the world.

Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America's interim co-executive director and head of literary programming, said, "Extraordinary books change our lives, compelling us to see the world through a new, often stunning lens. As books suffer severe censorship across the country, we are excited to celebrate the freedom they represent, along with their power to awaken compassion for others and lead us to act from the heart in difficult times.

The award ceremony will take place on May 8th in New York, at one of the most prestigious theaters in Manhattan.

The PEN/Nabokov Prize for International Literature, worth 50,000 dollars, is awarded annually, in collaboration with the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, to a living author whose body of work, written or translated into English, represents the highest level of achievement in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and/or drama, according to information on the award's official website.