Cantadores do Desassossego and Valério Romão

Valério Romão was born in France in 1974. He graduated in Philosophy at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He was selected three times in the national Young Creators competition (2000, 2001, 2002), twice in prose, once in poetry. He was the Portuguese representative in the field of literature at the Biennial of Young Creators from Europe and the Mediterranean, in 2001, in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He has written short stories (“the contortionist clockmaker”, Magma magazine; “Knives in the City”, Construções Portuárias magazine), plays (“Posse”, at Teatro da Trindade; “A Mala”, at Centro Cultural de Belém / Boxnova) , has done translations (Virgínia Woolf, Samuel Becket) and has collaborated with several national artists in defining the nuclei of meaning in multidisciplinary pieces ("moments of being", with Beatriz Cantinho and Ricardo Jacinto; "Peça Veloz Corpo Volátil", with Beatriz Cantinho ).
His first longer novel, "Autismo", was published in 2012 by the Lisbon publisher Abysmo and translated into French. With this, together with Gonçalo M. Tavares, Valério Romão was selected in 2016 for the short list of the Femina Prize, the prestigious literary prize for the best foreign novel published in French. "Autism" is the first volume of a trilogy entitled Failed Parenthood, which ends with the works "O da Joana" and "Cair para Dentro". He also published the books "Da Família", in 2014, by Abysmo, "Facas", by Companhia das Ilhas, in 2013, "A Mala", by Guillotina, in 2014, and "Ten Reasons for Aspire to Ser Gato", by Mariposa Azual, in 2015.
Valério Romão's writing revolves around the theme of “family” and often focuses on illnesses (autism or Alzheimer's) and the experiences of a tragic loss.

The Cantadores do Desassossego were born from a meeting of friends from Beja, Serpa, Cuba, Vidigueira, other municipalities and even the Netherlands. These friends, having the habit of singing, and some even with musical knowledge, decided to “officialize” the group and then began to rehearse at the Galeria do Desassossego, hence the name, under the guidance of master Francisco Torrão. Afterwards, they went through some rehearsal places and are currently rehearsing at the UNESCO Center, in Beja. The group's objectives are: to promote, disseminate, preserve and ensure the sustainability of Cante Alentejano, a commitment they have assumed, reinforced by the consecration of Cante to Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.