João de Araújo Correia

Quoting this author: “Son of middle-class parents, I was born in Canelas do Douro, municipality of Peso da Régua in the daybreak of the 1rst of January 1899. I attended elementary school in the municipality, where my parents started living when I was 3 years old… I was attending my 3rd year of Medicine, before I was 20, when I got seriously sick so I had to interrupt my studies… I finished it in October 1927… I know I was born writer in a farming house, next to a fountain in the old village of Canelas do Douro.”
Storyteller by nature, but also novelist, chronicler, in his work we denote a strong regionalist trait and a strong universal echo.
The storyteller and the chronicler merge into one in the pursuit of the humble and the simplicity. According to Bigete Chorão: “He gave dignity to trivial, poetry to prosaic, eternity to ephemeral”.

He perceived Alto Douro as a unique heritage created by man and he dedicated all his work to the man of the Douro.
An impassionate writer in defending social values of his land, with a sharp and an abrasive critical analysis, he has left a wide literary work.  
He passed away in Peso da Régua in the 31rst December 1985.

Bibliography:
- 10 books of tales, 4 novels, 8 books of chronicles, 1 book of poetry, 15 diverse titles. Among which: Contos Bárbaros (1939); Contos Durienses (1941); Terra Ingrata (1946); Folhas de Xisto (1959); Montes Pintados (1964); Horas Mortas (1968); Enfermaria do Idioma (1971); Rio Morto (1973); Nuvens Singulares (1975); Lira Familiar (1976); Pátria Pequena (1977); Outro Mundo (1980).