It is clear that Mia Couto – the pen name of perhaps Mozambique's finest writer, António Emílio Leite Couto – is literally a prized writer. Winning his first award in 1985 for his debut collection of poetry, Raiz de orvalho (Root of Dew), Couto has gone on to win so many awards, prizes, and accolades for his writing that it is surprising that this significant voice in World literature is not better known to the English-speaking world. As Couto is the recipient of the Areosa Pena Annual Journalism Award (1987) and important literary prizes, such as the Mozambican National Prize for Literature (1993), the Mozambican National Foundation of Culture Award (1999), the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (2001), the Africa Today Award (2003), and, most recently, the Camões Prize for Literature (2013) and the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature (a prize commonly referred to as America's Nobel), his capacity to attract the attention of prize-givers might leave one slightly breathless, but it does so at the same time as leaving one in no doubt of his importance to the world of letters.

Born in the coastal city of Beira in 1955 to Portuguese immigrants escaping the repression of Salazar's ‘New State’, Mia Couto originally studied medicine before turning his attention to journalism and the communist anti-colonial guerrilla movement, FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique). In 1974 Couto officially gave up his studies in order to give voice to the FRELIMO movement through the newspaper A Tribuna. One year later Mozambique gained its political independence from Portugal, and the party that had turned to Couto to publicize its political agenda asked him to serve as the director of the National Information Agency – a post that he held for three years (1976–1979). However, Couto's evident need to be involved with the written word saw him return to journalism in 1979 in the capacity of editor for the weekly periodicals Tempo and Domingo, and later the daily newspaper, Jornal de Noticias. In fact, so strong was Couto's compulsion to write that during his time with these national publications he was also putting together his first collection of poetry.