The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations announced in Angra do Heroísmo the creation of a programme to support the translation of Azorean authors into English with the aim of publishing and disseminating their works in Bermuda, Canada and the United States of America.

With the Emanuel Félix Programme, an initiative of the Regional Government, through the Regional Directorate for Communities, we intend to "reach an audience that does not speak Portuguese," but that is interested that is interested in the Azores and their culture, said Rodrigo Oliveira.

The Government has been working in recent years "to disseminate and promote Azorean culture in the Diaspora" by promoting our traditions or supporting the teaching of Portuguese, stated Rodrigo Oliveira, However, it is necessary to "take a further step in order to reach new generations of Azorean descent."

According to him, "there are hundreds of thousands of Azoreans and Azorean descendants of 2nd and 3rd generation who, despite being close to our culture and our traditions, no longer have the knowledge of the language spoken by parents and grandparents," said the government official.

"In order to disseminate Azorean culture and the Azores of today, it is important to reach a wider audience, not only among communities of Azorean descent but also among who have some ties to the Azores or who would like to learn more about the Azores.”

As he explained at the time, the Emmanuel Felix Program aims to "acknowledge the value of Azorean authors, disseminate our Region, promote 'Azoreanity', preserving the identity of Azorean culture and disseminate the socio-cultural characteristics of our people in the Diaspora communities.

This programme, whose application period runs from July 6 to September 30, is open to publishers from Portugal, Bermuda, Canada and the United States as well as to translators. The rules and forms are already available in Portuguese and English.

Later on, the Government will appoint a jury that will be responsible for assessment of these applications "based on criteria that mainly concern the importance of the work in social and cultural context of the Region." The criteria will also take into consideration "the history of the publisher, the translator's resume and the circulation and distribution plan of the translated work."

Rodrigo Oliveira explained that this programme intends to honour one of our most important Azorean writers of the second half of the 20th century, whose complete works were recently published in three volumes by the Regional Directorate for Culture.