Mia Couto, born in 1955 as Antonio Emilio Leite Couto, is a Mozambican writer of Portuguese descent. He has said himself that growing up in Beira, Mozambique with immigrant parents meant he was brought up in a blend of European and African influences. Couto worked as a journalist in his early adulthood before turning his main focus towards biology. To this day, Couto identifies as a biologist rather than a writer and his fictional work is often influenced by discoveries and people he encounters through his research.
Couto’s writing frequently incorporates features of magical realism, a literary movement where magical elements are introduced in an otherwise realistic literary world. Couto writes primarily in Portuguese and is known for mixing the Portuguese language with contemporary African colloquialisms, often creating new words in the process.
The novel Confessions of the Lioness was published in 2012 in Portuguese with the title A Confissão da Leoa and translated into English in 2015. The same year the novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. As is the case with many of his works, Couto drew inspiration for the story from his work as a biologist. The story received critical acclaim for its representation of rural Mozambique life and traditions faced with modern changes and the lingering trauma from decades of civil war.
