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Ondjaki Angola
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Ondjaki was born in Luanda in 1977 and is one of the most
promising young Portuguese-language writers in Africa. After studying
sociology, he now works on various cinema and film projects. Ondjaki has already been awarded a number of important
prizes, among them the prestigious Jabuti Prize. Ondjaki currently lives in Rio de Janeiro.
Ondjaki's writing and storylines are deceptively
simple but highly entertaining. One of the most prolific writers I know.
The
Guardian
Ondjaki’s
latest novel Os transparentes
(“The Transparent Ones”) paints a colourful portrait of the inhabitants of the
Angolan capital Luanda and their numerous individual stories. Odonato is sick of seeing so much suffering around and gets
so light that his wife has to tie him down to stop him floating away. In his
building, he and his neighbours help one another, although or perhaps because
they all have their own cross to bear. With quiet irony and much imagination, Ondjaki sketches out an amusing yet shocking picture of
today’s Luanda with all its radical contrasts. Creating close-to-life
characters and a sense of great authenticity, Ondjaki
once again proves his poetic talent.
With this novel, Ondjaki has
reached the highest spheres of Angolan literature. It will stay in our minds
for a long time.
Ípsilon
Dense and caustic. Expresso
The plot of AvóDezanove e o Segredo
Soviético (“Grandma Dezano-ve
and the Soviet Secret”) is set in
Praia do Bispo near Luanda, Angola, in the 1980s,
when both Cuba and the Soviet Union still had major army contingents there. The
young narrator lives here with his grandmother
Agnette, also called AvóDezanove,
and several other members of his family. The Russian officer Bilhardov, whom everybody calls simply Botardov
because of his Russian pronunciation of the greeting “Boa tarde”,
is particularly fond of AvóDezanove and longs to take
her back home with him to the Soviet Union.
A huge Soviet-style mausoleum is being built in honour of the deceased
head of state Agostinho Neto,
and there are rumours that the neighbouring houses will be demolished and the
people of Praio do Bispo
will have to move. Someone has even heard the word “dynamite” on Botardov's lips. The narrator and his friend Pinduca decide to take action. They sneak into the building
site, steal some explosives and dig holes across the site. To ignite the
explosion they need alcohol, which their friend Charlita
gets for them by stealing a bottle of whisky from her father. Unfortunately, it
is not enough to wet all the fuses.
The plan goes awry, yet a few minutes after Pinduca
and the narrator leave the mausoleum site there are several explosions, a
veritable fire-work display. A letter written by Botardov
to AvóDezanove concludes the novel, revealing that it
was Botardov who detonated the explosives. He wanted
to stop the home of AvóDezanove and her family from
being pulled down, and is now returning to the Soviet Union without his great
love.
Bom dia camaradas (“Good Morning, Comrades”) is the loving memory of a
childhood in Angola, around 1990. The young narrator, a keen observer, gives an
uninhibited and humorous description of the small adventures of everyday life
in a city marked by decades of civil war. Comrade
Antonio, the young narrator asks the loyal African servant, don’t you think things are better now that
the country is free? But comrade Antonio has good memories of the old days;
a lot of things were better in the time
of the white man. But things are slowly improving, much is happening at
school, and at the end of term the beloved Cuban teachers, who are not exactly
spoilt by wealth either, will take their leave, since the country will be able
to look towards its future by itself.
Childhood is a former time that will always return, says the author. He depicts an Angolan childhood
marked by all the country’s difficulties, but also by happiness. This is a book
that will especially appeal to younger readers.
The novel Quantas madrugadas tem a noite (“How
many Dawns has the Night”) is also set in Luanda. Ondjaki
again shows his talent as a story-teller. His figures come to life in the idiom
of the oral tradition, with a wealth of word creations and allusions to the
country’s regional languages. Provinciality and cosmopolitanism, new riches and
abject poverty clash in a city that has arrived in the 21st century although
still marked by decades of war and undergoing radical changes.
O Assobiador (“The Whistler”): There are some books that are surprising because
they are so completely unexpected - not in their appearance, but in their
method. O Assobiador (The Whistler) is such a book. As a product of
Angola, a country riven by civil war and its after-effects for the past 30
years, a novel of such laughter and unmitigated hope comes as a welcome shock.
(Richard Bartlett)
One October morning, while it is raining, a young man arrives at a small African village, with a church on one side and a smiling baobab tree on the other. He enters the church and starts whistling. The sound is so beautiful, that the priest is left in tears and the doves listen in absolute silence. And there are the people of the village, like the madman KaLua, the old widow Dona Rebenta in her large wooden bed, the gravedigger KoTimbalo, KeMunuMunu, the travelling salesman and Dissoxi, who fills her house with sea salt and longs for the ocean. For a whole week the reader accompanies these characters, their dreams and their longings, the village’s whisperings and gossiping. All are surrendered to the moods of these melodies. But the whistler himself is affected by the inhabitants of the village. His melodies can rouse happy or sad feelings. The priest announces that the following Sunday mass will be held with the whistler. On the Sunday he bewitches the priest and the people in the church to such an extent, that they fall in a state of trance and unimagined sensuality and zest for life. The mass is followed by an orgiastic celebration. On Monday the whistler and KeMunuMunu leave the village and the reader likewise bids his wistful farewell to a bewitching world.
Seldom before has a story of such joy and such hope come from a country of such tragedy and such sorrow.
Richard Bartlett, AFRICAN REVIEW OF BOOKS
Vivid, lyrical, charming, The Whistler has undeniable appeal.
The Complete Review
Seldom before has a story of such joy and such hope come from a country of such tragedy and such sorrow.
Richard Bartlett, African Review of Books
There is no doubt that Ondjaki is a craftsman, and an adept one at that, who has the uncanny ability at once to shock and lull the reader.
Percy Zvomuya, South Africa
Rights:
Novels:
Os
tranparentes, Lisbon: Caminho 2012, 432 p.
English and German sample translation available
Argentina: Letranómada ● France: Métailié ● Mexico: Almadía
AvóDezanove e o Segredo do Soviético, Lisbon: Caminho 2008, 198 p.
Jabuti Prize 2010
Brazil:
Companhia das Letras 2009 ● Canada: Biblioasis ● Italy: Il
Sirente ● Poland: Karakter 2013
Quantas
madrugadas tem a noite, Lisbon: Caminho 2004, 196 p.
Brazil: Leya ● Italy: Lavoro 2006
Bom dia camaradas, Lisbon: Caminho 2003,
138 p.
Canada: Biblioasis (English rights for
Canada and USA) 2008 ● Italy: Iacobelli 2011 ● Mexico: Almadia 2008 (Spanish
world rights) ● Serbia: Kreativni Centar
2009 ● Spain: Txalaparta 2010 ● Sweden: Tranan 2010 ● Switzerland: La Joie de Lire
(French rights) 2004, NordSüd
2006 (German rights) ● Uruguay: Banda Oriental 2005 (Uruguay only)
O
Assobiador, Lisbon: Caminho 2002, 117 p.
Argentina: Letranómada 2011 ● Italy: Lavoro 2005 ● Sweden: Tranan 2009 ● UK: Aflame Books 2008
Stories:
Os
da minha rua, Lisbon: Caminho 2007, 124 p.
Switzerland: La
Joie de Lire (French rights) 2007
E
se amanhã o medo, Luanda: INALD 2004, 125 p.
Brazil: Língua Geral ● Spain: Xordica (Spain only)
2007
Momentos de aqui, Lisbon: Caminho 2001, 144 p.
Participation
in anthologies:
O
Caso do Cadáver,
Lisbon: Prado 2011
Dicionário Amoroso da Língua Portuguesa, Lisbon: Casa da Palvra 2009
(Ed. by Marcelo Moutinho)
Poetry:
Dentro
de Mim Faz Sul seguido de Acto Sanguíneo, Lisbon: Caminho 2010, 128 p.
Materiais
para confecção de um espanador de tristezas, Lisbon: Caminho 2009, 88 p.
Há
prendisajens com o xão, Lisbon: Caminho 2002, 70 p.
Brazil:
Pallas Editora 2011
For children:
O
Voo do Golfinho, Lisbon:
Caminho 2009, 28 p.
(Ill. by
Danuta Wojciechowska)
English and Spanish translation available
Brazil: Companhia das Letras 2012
O
leão e o Coelho Saltitão, Lisbon: Caminho 2008, 41 p.
(Ill. by
Rachel Caiano)
Ynari. A menina das
cinco tranças, Lisbon:
Caminho 2004, 43 p.
(Ill. by
Danuta Wojciechowska)