4th edition of the vs literary prize – ernesto sampaio
the book the year the locusts devoured (o ano que os gafanhotos comeram), by miguel bonneville, was the winner of the 4th edition of the vs literary prize – ernesto sampaio. established with the aim of honouring the legacy of the writer ernesto sampaio and fostering the emergence of new voices in portuguese literature, the prize is awarded annually and seeks to publish original works by authors residing in portugal, whether previously published or not, and across all literary genres.
«the year the locusts devoured takes the form of a reading diary in which three discursive layers intertwine and sustain one another: the voice of an original manuscript, the voice of a narrator who comments on that manuscript, and the voice of quotations that nourish and underpin it. written in a consistently sober and elegant tone, bonneville traces the psychic gestures of these different registers, shaping a hybrid object that is at once rigorous and seductive. the book is driven by an impulse of displacement, which the author articulates as follows: “the aim is not to win, but simply to arrive at another dimension.”»