There is no deeper and more accurate way to remember a writer than by reading his work. For this reason, on November 16, boys and girls aged 9 and 10 simultaneously read José Saramago in their schools in Portugal, Brazil and the Canary Islands.
With this simple gesture, the celebration of the Centenary of the Nobel Prize for Literature began, which will last until November 16, 2022. It will be a year of activities of all kinds to honor the memory of an extraordinary human being.
Lanzarote named him Adoptive Son, the Autonomous Community distinguished him with the Canary Islands Award in its International category and he established his residence in Tías, ‘A Casa’. For these reasons, the Island Council, together with the Government of the Canary Islands and the Tías City Council, have prepared a joint commemorative program for the event, hand in hand with the José Saramago Foundation.
On such high occasions as this, public institutions must strive even more to coordinate and honor a figure of Saramago's stature as he deserves. Furthermore, we are obliged to do so with respect for the Foundation he created and which is the legitimate repository of his legacy.
The Centenary allows us to refresh the fact that the writer established his Foundation for the defense and dissemination of contemporary literature, and the defense and demand for compliance with the Charter of Human Rights, in addition to the attention we owe, as responsible citizens, to the care of the environment.
It should not surprise us that this is the case, since José Saramago was a man committed to his time, a defender of social justice and equality, and an authentic cultural and conscience agitator who at all times bet on the necessary and positive transformation of society.
For this reason, the choice of the story The Biggest Flower in the World to open the Centenary does justice to the values that inspired Saramago during his life. It is the story of a boy who, upon finding a withered flower, begins to search for water around the world, moves away from his home and crosses unknown landscapes looking for a way to save the flower.
The Centenary allows us to celebrate the life and work of José Saramago in all its dimensions as a writer and thinker, and further reinforce his presence in cultural and literary history in Lanzarote, his host island. It allows us to honor an Adoptive Son of Lanzarote with universal projection.
María Dolores Corujo Berriel, president of the Lanzarote Island Council.
