Livraria Lello suggests…

Livraria Lello dedicates the month of June to the award-winning Angolan writer Ondjaki. Writer, filmmaker, visual artist and painter, Ndalu de Almeida, better known by the pseudonym Ondjaki, was born in Luanda, and, since 2000, has published over 25 books and won several literary awards including the Prémio José Saramago that he won, in 2013, with Os Transparentes.

To celebrate the Author of the Month, our booksellers suggest two works by the author. Os da Minha Rua, a collection of short stories that is one of the writer's best-known books, and Quantas Madrugada tem a noite, a novel that has the city of Luanda as its background.

Os da minha rua, Ondjaki

Os da minha rua, published in 2007, is a collection of 22 short stories that have the author's childhood, lived between 1970 and 1990, as their main theme. In a work written in the first person, Ondjaki presents several personalities who were important to him and explores, in each chapter, the purest and most innocent time of his life.

Inspired by Roberto Carlos and Graciliano Ramos and by the novels O Bem Amado and Roque Santeiro, the writer tells a story in several texts that can be read separately or as chapters of a novel.

Quantas madrugadas tem a noite, Ondjaki

In this work, Ondjaki manages to create a story that compiles so many others. With a more cheerful writing and covered with images, the book presents us with peculiar characters, among which stands out the protagonist Adolfo Dido, who is dead, is arrested and is disputed by two widows who claim to be lawfully married.

In a book that resorts to humor, farce, tragedy, and horror, Ondjaki reveals all his creativity in these stories, which also reveals the author's personal opinion on themes related to the Portuguese people, racism, and Jesus Christ.