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Maria Velho da Costa

マリア・ヴェーリョ・ダ・コスタ

Maria Velho da Costa

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1938-06-26 （Lisbon, Portugal）
Died
2020-05-23 （Lisbon, Portugal） age 81
Nationality
Portugal
Languages
Portuguese
Residence History
Lisbon (birthplace, residence) → London (King's College London, 1980–1987) → Cape Verde (Cultural Attaché, 1988–1990)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Novelist, Essayist, Secondary school teacher, Cultural attaché, Academic
Active Years
1966-2020
Affiliations
Associação Portuguesa de Escritores (Portuguese Association of Writers), Instituto Camões, King's College London

Education

University of Lisbon (Faculty of Letters)
Faculty of Letters / Germanic Philology
Country: Portugal
Specialised in Germanic philology

Awards

Prémio Vergílio Ferreira
1997
Work: Collected works
Organization: University of Évora
Result: 受賞
Camões Prize
2002
Work: Lifetime body of work
Organization: Camões Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Prémio Correntes de Escritas
2008
Work: Myra
Organization: Correntes d'Escritas (organisers)
Result: 受賞
dstgroup Grand Prize in Literature
2010
Work: Myra
Organization: dstgroup
Result: 受賞
Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry
2003
Organization: Government of Portugal
Result: 授与
Grand Officer of the Order of Liberty
2011
Organization: Government of Portugal
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

O Lugar Comum

1966 Novel / Essays

Early works including short and medium-length pieces dealing with personal and social themes.

Individual and societyLanguage and expression

Maina Mendes

1969 Novel

Published in 1969. One of her early novels mixing personal perspective with social critique.

Female subjectivitySocial norms

New Portuguese Letters (co-authored)

1972 Feminist literature / Epistolary/essayistic

Co-written with Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Isabel Barreno. Challenged traditional views of women and criticized the authoritarian regime; the 1972 publication led to the authors' arrest and prosecution.

FeminismCensorship and resistanceFemale corporeality and freedom

Myra

2008 Novel

One of her notable later novels. Explores memory and identity; critically acclaimed and awarded several prizes.

MemoryIdentityFemale perspective

Bibliography

  • O Lugar Comum (1966)
  • Maina Mendes (1969)
  • Ensino Primário e Ideologia (1972)
  • New Portuguese Letters (1972) (co-authored)
  • Desescrita (1973)
  • Cravo (1976)
  • Português; Trabalhador; Doente Mental (1977)
  • Casas Pardas (1977)
  • Da Rosa Fixa (1978)
  • Corpo Verde (1979)
  • Lucialima (1983)
  • O Mapa Cor de Rosa (1984)
  • Missa in Albis (1988)
  • Das Áfricas (1991) (with José Afonso Furtado)
  • Dores (1994) (short stories, with Teresa Dias Coelho)
  • Irene ou o Contrato Social (2000)
  • O Livro do Meio (2006) (epistolary novel, with Armando Silva Carvalho)
  • Myra (2008)
  • O Amante do Crato (2012) (short stories)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Experimental narrationEssayistic and fragmentary structuresPolitical and feminist standpoint
Recurring Motifs
Female agencyCensorship and freedom of expressionMemory and identity

Legacy

Maria Velho da Costa was a major Portuguese writer and feminist whose involvement in the controversy over New Portuguese Letters in 1972 made her a symbol of freedom of expression and women's emancipation. She received major recognitions including the Camões Prize in 2002, and a literary prize bearing her name was instituted in 2020.

Academic Societies

  • Associação Portuguesa de Escritores (Portuguese Association of Writers)

Archives

  • Collections related to Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores

In Popular Culture

  • The 'Three Marias' trial is cited as a symbolic event in Portuguese resistance history and feminist discourse

Trivia

  • The co-authors of New Portuguese Letters became known as the 'Three Marias' and were arrested and prosecuted in 1972.
  • In 2020 the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores instituted the Prémio de Literatura Maria Velho Costa in her honour.