The most fulfilling hobby of my life

Career as a writer

Apparently I started writing at age 7 when my teacher had to report my composition, a critique of the upper social class, to the fascist regime of Portugal, which I entitled "The Rich and the Poor". From my perspective of a child I saw my grandmother and neighbouring farmers underselling their products at the local Vila farmers market, for a cents worth of hard labour, it all made sense to call it unfair. In short: I never saw my composition or my grade, my grandmother got interrogated and I got a good spanking. What a way to start a career as a writer?

Later in high school I wrote poetry and comedy for the local theatre company. My twenties were all about work and raising a family. I only got to sing some of my poems to my son Carlos-Philip at bedtime.

In my early thirties I suffered a traumatising automobile accident. Later in the same year my grandmother passed away and I got separated from my wife and children. To cope with all of this, I decided to start writing a novel about some personal experiences and my hometown to re-evaluate my sense of home. That's when I produceded The Niche of Sao Tiago and it is dedicated to my grandmother who passed away. The events of my accident reflect in my writings and there for offering a different and unique perspective.

With the separation from my children and in search for meanings in life I wrote A Miner's Peaches & Tears. My style of fantastic realism or allegorical with elements of fantasy, if you want, brings out a short novel that is compelling and spiritual.

After having written two wonderful stories and acquiring a style that I was comfortable with, I decided to continue. I wrote a story that is true and that always intrigued me. In The Magic Mushroom I explore the theme of family in the European catholic context and as a second-generation emigrant in Canada. Great cultural richness from the Italian Canadian community can be better understood as I make the writer feel like an insider. I wraps it up nicely with a strong touch of morals.

To get away from stress and to find peace and time to write I spent some time in Abitibi in the beautiful town of Rouyn-Noranda. Missing my children that now live in Portugal I wrote something for children and to help protect the environment. By creating  The Legend of the Osisko Dragon I have entered into my first work done in French and an ovious attempt at learning the language. This gave my oldest son Carlos-Philip motivation to write and he created The Scary Mask. A Halloween story for children written by an eleven year old. I highly recomend it to your children before they go out on Halloween night.

Then I decided that it was time to become more integrated in the Québec Canadian community which has been my family since 1987. I had never learned the French language and many other wonderful things its culture has to offer so I became a Quebecois and I'm very happy I did.

I was intrigued by the history Quebec city from a visit I did many years ago. Recently I decided to go there again just so I could learn more about the city's upcoming 400 year celebration and write at the same time. Golf on the Plains of Abraham  offers a great perspective on how to look at Canadian Québec culture with a different perception. A story of intra-muros -in-between two cultures- and of hope.