Next Tuesday, the José Saramago Foundation auditorium will host the launch of the first edition fully translated into Hindi of the only book published in Portuguese, during his lifetime, by Fernando Pessoa: Mensagem. The event will take place at 6:30 pm and is open to the public and the press.

The work that occupied 21 years of the poet’s life between 1913 and 1934 was published a year before his death and portrays Portugal’s glorious past through 44 poems, in which the poet tries to find meaning for the greatness of Portugal’s achievements during Discoveries, glorifying its symbolic value and believing that the revival of its verses would bring the nation the glory of yesteryear.

Due to the relevance of the work and Fernando Pessoa’s assiduity at A Brasileira do Chiado where he was so often inspired and where symbolically he continues to occupy the terrace, in 2021 A Brasileira published the work Mensagem in special bilingual editions: Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and Mandarin, which were joined in 2023 by Italian and German editions, all exclusively for sale at the Café.

In 2024, the work will finally be translated into Hindi, the third most spoken language in the world by more than 600 million people, and into which until now Message had never been fully translated. The translation was carried out by Manjulata Sharma, a translator, interpreter, author and Portuguese language teacher for more than three decades in India.

The presentation of the book will be moderated by Catarina Carvalho, journalist and Director of the newspaper Mensagem de Lisboa and will feature the Ambassador of India in Portugal, Puneet R. Kundal, the Director of the Center for Indian Studies-FLUL, Shiv Kumar Singh and also the translator, Manjulata Sharma as guest speakers.