The young Mozambican writer Otildo Guido (23) has created a cultural center in the district of Inharrime, in the province of Inhambane, with the value of the Fernando Leite Couto Literary Prize in partnership with the Municipality of Óbidos (Portugal), so that the local population can have access to literature.

Guido said that he decided to invest in a cultural center so that people can feel ownership of a space for cultural promotion.

"I decided to create a cultural center, because I wanted to do something big that everyone could feel ownership of [...] There are young people who like to read, but don't have access to books. There are people at a certain age, 50 years old, who have never had books," said the author of "The Silence of the Skin".

The poet was the central figure in the award ceremony at FOLIO - International Literary Festival of Óbidos, which was attended by the Mozambican writer Mia Couto, the deputy mayor of Óbidos, José Pereira, and Rui Motty, representative of the Chamber of Commerce Portugal-Mozambique (CCPM), also a partner in this award.

On the occasion, Mia Couto said that Otildo Guido's initiative "is a prize he has given us. It has recreated in Inharrime a closeness to the other." He recalled that the idea of continuing with the FFLC, a project of his father Fernando Leite Couto, was precisely to give continuity to artistic publications by young people.

Besides the monetary prize and the publication of the book, Otildo Guido received a literary residence and 500 euros from the Câmara de Óbidos, and the publication of the work in Portugal from CCPM.

José Pereira, deputy mayor, explained that the goal of the initiative is to "promote the Portuguese language and stimulate the production of literary works in Camões' language.

Representing the Luso Mozambique Chamber of Commerce, Rui Motty congratulated the Óbidos Town Hall for this "extraordinary event" and Otildo Guido for his "daring to navigate in literature".