On 18 November 2024, the Jacinto do Prado Coelho Essay Prize was awarded at the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. The winning author was Diogo Ramada Curto, author of the book ‘Um País em Bicos de Pés: escritores, artistas e movimentos culturais’ (A Country on Tiptoe: writers, artists and cultural movements) (Edições 70, 2023).

Cândido Oliveira Martins, a lecturer at UCP-Braga, was the spokesperson for the jury, which also included professors Dora Nunes Gago and Ana Maria Martinho, under the coordination of the APCL president.

The jury unanimously highlighted the appreciable quality of Diogo Ramada Curto's research and essayistic reflection, bringing together various fields of knowledge in a fruitful and interdisciplinary way, from History to the Social Sciences, from Ideology to Culture and Politics to Culture, from the Arts to Literature. With this theoretical-critical perspective, the author's essay provides a plural reflective framework on the dynamics of the historical-social, cultural and mentality movements in Portugal, fostering new connections and other interpretative perspectives, debating set ideas, hasty conclusions and forced consensuses.

This session was attended by the Director-General of Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB), the President of the Portuguese Association of Literary Critics (APCL), as well as the award-winning author.

Biographical note of the award-winning author

Professor of History at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, author of recognised research works, Diogo Ramada Curto is currently Director of the National Library of Lisbon.