Manuel Caeiro de Pavia

Popular poet and prose writer. Having completed primary education, he began working in the fields at ten years of age. And it was while herding pigs that he began writing verses on grocery wrappers. In 1954 he came to Lisbon, joining a gas distribution company, from which he retired in 1980. He then returned to Pavia, collaborating with the local MURPI (Movimento Unitário de Reformados, Pensionistas e Idosos) and Parish Council, and dedicating himself to popular literature. He has written hundreds of small books that he photocopies and distributes to newspapers, radio stations, local authorities, etc. He has been awarded several prizes in floral games and other poetry contests. In 1984 and 1993 he was invited to visit Toronto (Canada) by the Alentejo immigrant community to recite his poems. In 1988 the City Council of Mora resolved to pay him tribute by publishing his first book of poems, Flores do Alentejo. Manuel Caeiro de Pavia is the literary name of Manuel Luís Nunes Caeiro.