On the 10th of November, as part of the centenary celebrations of José Saramago's birth, the Centre for Technology, Restoration and the Arts (Techn&Art) of the Polytechnic of Tomar and the José Saramago Foundation organised a conference entitled As gentes e as paisagens da Azinhaga: nos caminhos de Saramago, at Azinhaga, the birthplace of the Nobel Prize winner.

This conference was the culmination of a funded project, part of Techn&Art and in partnership with the José Saramago Foundation, called Memórias da Azinhaga por Saramago (MAS). Manuela Sofia Silva, Maria Barras Romana, João Miguel Cordeiro (currently a lecturer at the University of Évora), Luís Santos, Júlio Silva, Ana do Carmo and Susana Domingos were part of the research team for this multidisciplinary project, made up of researchers from the Research Centre and IPT lecturers from various areas of knowledge such as literature, sociology, audiovisual and design.

This project resulted from the challenge launched by FJS curator Ana Matos and aimed to make eight short films inspired by the author's only autobiographical book, As Pequenas Memórias, in order to raise public awareness of José Saramago's connection to Azinhaga. This long fieldwork of filming and interviews with villagers, relatives and friends of Saramago also resulted in the book Das Pequenas Memórias de Saramago. The team was also responsible for the design and layout of the Roteiros de memória.

In addition to the four conferences on Saramago's As Pequenas Memórias, the session included a presentation of the book and a preview of the short films. The session was well attended, especially by people from the village, who applauded the short documentaries and, as Ana Matos, granddaughter of Portugal's only Nobel laureate in literature, said, "it was a happy day" for her and certainly for Azinhaga.