The Notebook

José Saramago is a Portuguese writer and journalist born on November 16, 1922 in the Arinaga region (central Portugal) to a family of poor farmers. * He began his life as a locksmith, then as a journalist and translator, before devoting his time entirely to literature. He published his first novel, The Land of Sin, in 1947, and stopped writing for nearly twenty years. In 1966, he published his first poetry collection, Possible Poems. He has published about twenty books and is considered by critics to be one of the most important writers in Portugal thanks to his polyphonic novels, which retrace Portuguese history with a subtle irony close to the style adopted by Voltaire. - A member of the Portuguese Communist Party since 1959. - Received the International PEN Club Prize in 1982 and the Portuguese Camويسes Prize in 1995 - In October 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, for his novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis - He was skeptical about the official account of the events September 11, 2001 - Saramago passed away on May 18, 2010