The North-American writer, translator and literary critic Richard Zenith is the 2012 winner of the Pessoa Award, being considered one of the most reputed translators of Portuguese literature into English and one of the greatest scholars of the works of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.
Born in Washington DC, Zenith, 56 years old, has been living in Portugal for 25 years (the last five as a Portuguese-American citizen) and besides translating works of Camões, Sophia de Mello Breyner and Antero de Quental into English, Zenith had previously won awards from the Penn Club, Gulbenkian and the Academy of American Poets.
The Pessoa Award (€60,000 funded by CGD) was established in 1989 and each year pays homage to a person of Portuguese citizenship whose work or action has been particularly relevant in the arts, literature or science fields.
This is the first time the award went to a Portuguese citizen born outside of Portugal.
