5 Lusophone writers you should know

Abdulai Silá

Born in 1958, Abdulai Silá lives in Bissau and combines telecommunications work with writing. He is the author of four novels: Eterna Paixão, A Última Tragédia, Mistida and Memórias SOManticas, as well as two plays: As Oracoes de Mansata and Dois Tiros e Uma Gargalhada. He has also written short stories and several scientific articles on Energy, Telecommunications, Appropriated Technology and Education. He holds a master degree in electrical engineering from the Technische Universitaet Dresden (Germany).

Abdulai Silá will be launching “The Ultimate Tragedy” on July 2nd at #AfricaWrites17 . Get your tickets

 

Alda Neves da Graça do Espírito Santo

Alda Neves da Graça do Espírito Santo was born April 30 1926 to a prominent Creole family – primary education in São Tomé, secondary school in Porto, and training as a primary school teacher in Lisbon from 1948. It was in Lisbon that she joined an association of students from Portuguese colonies known as Casa dos Estudantes. There she published one of her first pieces, a feminist article, in 1949. It was also at Casa that she came in contact with future nationalist leaders of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, and where her poetry was published in the collection Caderno: A Collection of Poetry by Portuguese Speaking Black African Writers.

 

Kalaf Epalanga

 

Kalaf Epalanga, born in Benguela, Angola in 1978, is a well-known musician and writer living in Lisbon since the 1990s. As a musician, he co-founded the record label A Enchufada, a creative and dynamic platform that promotes new music styles from Portugal around the world, and went on to form the MTV Europe Music Award-winning band, Buraka Som Sistema. He writes a regular column of short literary chronicles for the prestigious newspaper, O Público. His first collection of chronicles was published by Caminho in 2011, under the name of Kalaf Angelo.

 

Yara dos Santos

Yara dos Santos  is a Cape Verdean writer. Her first book Força de Mulher (Garrido Publishers, 2002), which relates her experience in her appearance in a Portuguese television programme Confiança Cega. She later wrote Cabo Verde: Tradição e Sabores (Cape Verde: Tradition and Flavors) (Garrido Publishers, 2003), about the gastronomic tradition of her native land.In 2006, she published Ildo Lobo, a voz crioula (Ildo Lobo: The Creole Voice), about the life and works of the Cape Verdean singer Ildo Lobo, it was first presented in Ital

 

Mia Couto


Mia Couto, born in Beira/Mozambique in 1955, is among the most prominent writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa. After studying medicine and biology in Maputo, he worked as a journalist. Besides writing, he is now a biologist and teaches at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. In 2013, Mia Couto was awarded the Camões Prize for Literature 2013 and the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature 2014. He was also longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2015 with his novel Jesusalém and was among the six finalists of the Man Booker International Prize 2015 with his body of work. His books have been published in over 30 countries.