Ajubilant throng of well-wishers and proud Portuguese carrying long-stemmed red roses crowded around gentle Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, 76, at the Frankfurt book fair after he had been announced as this year's winner of the highest literary honour, the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The affable, mild-mannered Saramago nearly missed out on the excitement he generated at the world's largest yearly book rights jamboree. He was about to board a plane for home at Frankfurt airport when the news broke and he was quickly returned to a cheering welcome, including cries from Spaniards of 'Lanzarote! Lanzarote!' - the Spanish Canary islands where Saramago has made his home.
He had left the fair rather than hang around hoping to hear of a win, he said. 'A [Nobel] candidate cannot just sit by the telephone all day,' he said. 'If you expect a prize and don't get it, you're discouraged.' He should know. He has been on the Nobel shortlist for many years and admitted he had entertained some hopes when he was first nominated. But those hopes had weakened over the years of successive nominations.
His quiet but dapper style belies his origins as the farmer's son who had to leave school in Lisbon and train as a mechanic because the family had no money. He held various jobs, as a draughtsman, editor and translator, then becoming a journalist and commentator. He is also a member of the Communist Party, though his magical realist works support the downtrodden without being dogmatic.
His first book was published in 1947 when he was 25, but his next work, a book of poems, did not follow until 1966. The bulk of his work was published in the past two decades.
Having come to writing late in life, Saramago is regarded as one of Portugal's most renowned contemporary writers, and has been translated into more than 25 languages.
