The writer and the journalist
Mário was a multifaceted man who, besides his commitment to the festival, dedicated several years to journalism, in Portugal and in Spain, and to writing, building
a literary oeuvre with over 20 books, including novels, short stories, albums and memoirs.
As a journalist, Mário Ventura Henriques worked for “Diário Popular” and “Diário de Notícias”, belonged to the editorial board of the “Seara Nova” magazine, directed the weekly “Extra” and headed the news agency Europa Press. From 1968 he was correspondent of the Spanish press in Portugal, a task he abandoned in the 1990s. He also directed the Portuguese edition of “Cambio 16”.
As a writer, he made his debut with “A Noite da Vergonha”, published in 1963, which was followed by “À Sombra das Árvores Mortas” (1966) and “O Despojo dos Insensatos” (1968).
He then gathered, in “Alentejo Desencantado” (1969) and “Morrer em Portugal” (1976), narratives about several regions of the country, returning to novelistic fiction in 1979 with “Outro Tempo Outra Cidade”, which was followed, six years later, in 1985, by “Vida e Morte dos Santiagos”, a book that won the Pen Club’s Fiction Award and the Lisbon Municipality Literary Award.
He also published “Conversas” (1986), a collection of dialogues with other writers, as well as the novels “Março Desavindo” (1987) and “Évora e os Dias da Guerra” (1992). The latter won him another Pen Club award.
President of the Portuguese Writers Association in the beginning of the 1990s, Mário Ventura also wrote “A Revolta dos Herdeiros” (1997), “O Segredo de Miguel Zuzarte” (1999), “Quarto Crescente” (memoirs, 2001) and the album “Portugal – Geografia do Fatalismo”.
In 2002 he published “Atravessando o Deserto” and, in the following year, “A Noite da Vergonha” was re-edited, to mark his 40 years of literary life. A new novel, “O Reino Encantado”, arrived at the bookstores in 2005, year of the re-edition of “Vida e Morte dos Santiagos”, two decades after the original publishing.
Mário Ventura’s oeuvre is accessible through his website: www.marioventura.com
As a journalist, Mário Ventura Henriques worked for “Diário Popular” and “Diário de Notícias”, belonged to the editorial board of the “Seara Nova” magazine, directed the weekly “Extra” and headed the news agency Europa Press. From 1968 he was correspondent of the Spanish press in Portugal, a task he abandoned in the 1990s. He also directed the Portuguese edition of “Cambio 16”.
As a writer, he made his debut with “A Noite da Vergonha”, published in 1963, which was followed by “À Sombra das Árvores Mortas” (1966) and “O Despojo dos Insensatos” (1968).
He then gathered, in “Alentejo Desencantado” (1969) and “Morrer em Portugal” (1976), narratives about several regions of the country, returning to novelistic fiction in 1979 with “Outro Tempo Outra Cidade”, which was followed, six years later, in 1985, by “Vida e Morte dos Santiagos”, a book that won the Pen Club’s Fiction Award and the Lisbon Municipality Literary Award.
He also published “Conversas” (1986), a collection of dialogues with other writers, as well as the novels “Março Desavindo” (1987) and “Évora e os Dias da Guerra” (1992). The latter won him another Pen Club award.
President of the Portuguese Writers Association in the beginning of the 1990s, Mário Ventura also wrote “A Revolta dos Herdeiros” (1997), “O Segredo de Miguel Zuzarte” (1999), “Quarto Crescente” (memoirs, 2001) and the album “Portugal – Geografia do Fatalismo”.
In 2002 he published “Atravessando o Deserto” and, in the following year, “A Noite da Vergonha” was re-edited, to mark his 40 years of literary life. A new novel, “O Reino Encantado”, arrived at the bookstores in 2005, year of the re-edition of “Vida e Morte dos Santiagos”, two decades after the original publishing.
Mário Ventura’s oeuvre is accessible through his website: www.marioventura.com