Brazilian author Dourado wins top Portuguese literary prize

LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) -- Brazilian novelist Autran Dourado has won the 2000 Camoes Prize, the top literature award for Portuguese-language writers.

The annual award, which carries a prize of 12 million escudos ($53,200), is made jointly by the Portuguese and Brazilian culture ministries.

In choosing the 74-year-old Dourado, whose works include "O Sino da Agonia" ("The Bell of Agony"), the panel of judges highlighted the author's "immense imagination," the Portuguese ministry said in a statement on Tuesday night.

Past winners of the prize, named after the 16th century Portuguese poet Luis de Camoes, include Portuguese Nobel literature laureate Jose Saramago and Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado.

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