Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies (Moh’kins’tsis / Calgary, Alberta). He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese.
Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, was published in 2024 with University of Regina Press.
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BOOK AWARDS:
2023 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
2020 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
2003 Caribbean & Canada Region Commonwealth Writers Prize – First Book
2002 W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize
2001 Canongate Short-Fiction Prize (Scotland)
1999 CBC Alberta Anthology – Short Story
Portuguese
2003 ProVerbo . Prémio – Poesia (Poetry Prize – Portuguese)
2003 ProVerbo . Prémio – Conto (Short-Story Prize – Portuguese)
Paulo da costa lives in Mohkinstsis / Calgary which is located on the lands of the Treaty 7 People:
-The Blackfoot from Siksika, Kainai and Piikani,
-The Dene-Sarceee from Tsuut’ina,
-And the Stoney-Nakoda from Morley, the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley First Nations.
He also walks in the footsteps of the Metis People from Region 3, Metis Nation of Alberta.
