Deolinda da Conceição and the role of women in Macao’s literature and society is the opening theme of the 10th edition of The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival, to be held from December 3 to 5, 2021 and based at Casa Garden, the headquarters of the Orient Foundation.
On the centenary of the Macanese writer’s birth, The Script Road brings writers, academics and translators to the event's main stage to celebrate Deolinda da Conceição’s life and work, and presents a performance built around her book of short stories Cheong-Sam – A Cabaia – a production by experimental theatre group Artistry of Wind Box, with performances scheduled for December 4 and 5 at the Portuguese Bookshop Gallery.
Back at Casa Garden, the Festival marks the 200th anniversary of the first translation of the Bible into Chinese with a session in which the figure of Reverend Robert Morrison, the main mentor of the project, will be remembered. This will be followed by a guided tour of the Protestant Cemetery, next door to Casa Garden, which is also 200 years old.
Among the writers participating in the 10th edition of The Script Road, Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa deserves special mention. He will talk from abroad about Paraíso e Outros Infernos (Paradise and Other Hells), a book of chronicles that will now be published in Chinese and English by the Macau Literary Festival.
Other works launched this year at The Script Road include: O Tempo e o Vento, a book of poems by Fernando Sales Lopes; Erosão, the poetry of Gisela Casimiro in a bilingual edition (Portuguese and Chinese); and Nada te Morre, a short story by Maria Paula Monteiro, also presented in Macau SAR’s two official languages.
The Literary Festival also highlights the publishing activity of the International Institute of Macau, of great importance for the preservation of the history and the stories of this city. Stuart Braga and J.J. Monteiro will present their latest works, both under the IIM label: Nos Sa Téra, Nos Sa Génti (Our Land, Our People); and Macau Vista por Dentro, respectively.
Children’s literature will also be part of The Script Road through a workshop directed by Jojo Wong, vice-president of the Macau Outersky Poets Association.
The stage arts will not be limited to the staging of Cheong-sam. At the Portuguese Consul’s Official Residence, Bela Vista, the Cai Fora theatre group will perform the play To Be Confirmed, inspired on the book The Lost Soul by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature. There will be six performances, all to be held on the spacious terrace of the historic building.
Not-Caring-of-Never-Knowing-Where-to-Go is a show created by Isaac Pereira (text) and François Girouard (music) that will be performed at the Tak Chun Art Garden, twice, late in the evening.
Also in the same building, where the Macau Art For All association is based, a concert will take place on Saturday night with the participation of the band Work Tone and vocalists Gabriel and Maria Monte (stage name of Maria Paula Monteiro). The Portuguese singer will premiere in Macau songs from her latest EP Laços (Ties), composed in close collaboration with Macau musician João Caetano.
Finally, in the area of visual arts, two exhibitions will be inaugurated at Casa Garden on the opening day of the Festival: one brings together the winning works of the Photography Competition A Strange Familiarity, organised by Macau CLOSER magazine; the other shows photography and writing works by Carlos Morais José and Rosa Coutinho Cabral, a project named Seen with the Feet, Written with the Eyes, which was recently presented at the Óbidos Literary Festival (Folio), in Portugal.
As in previous editions, the Macau Literary Festival is supported by the Macau Foundation and the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Consulate-General of Portugal, IPOR and Orient Foundation, as well as by some of the most important companies in the hotel, gaming, banking and telecommunications sectors: SJM, Galaxy Entertainment, MGM Macau, Melco Resorts, Sands China, BNU, ICBC, CTM, among others.
