Wrapped in silence

In an isolated reserve in Mozambique destroyed by war, was the world of Muanito, Modzen the silence, born to be silent, had shattered with the arrival of an unknown woman. The first time I saw a woman, I was eleven years old. I suddenly found myself defenseless as someone with no power, to the point that I burst into tears. I was living in a desert inhabited actually only by five men: my father gave this forgotten corner a name: Jerusalem. This was the land where Christ was supposed to have been crucified. End of story. The old Sylvester Vitalisyo told us that the world had ended, that we were the last of the end, and that we were the survivors. Beyond the horizon, there appeared nothing but lifeless lands vaguely called: "the other side." Mía Kuto, born and educated in Mozambique (former Portuguese colony), is the son of one of the Portuguese who migrated to Mozambique in the mid-twentieth century. He has many works and is classified among magical realism writers. His writings have received numerous awards, and he is considered one of the most famous writers of Mozambique. His works have been translated into many languages. His first novels, "Land of Silence," published in 1992, are among the twelve most famous African works and won the National Novel Award from the Mozambique Writers' Union. He received the Nuits d'Afrique Literature Award in 2014. In 2007, he was awarded the Latin Writing Prize, a prize similar to the Commonwealth Awards, aiming to establish cultural links between European peoples and former colonies that speak the same language.