 The announcement came when he was about to fly to Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair, and caught both him and his editor by surprise.The Nobel committee praised his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony", and his "modern skepticism" about official truths.The José Saramago Foundation was founded by José Saramago in June 2007, with the aim to defend and spread the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the promotion of culture in Portugal just like in all the countries, and protection of the environment.