Anajá Caetano was an Afro-Brazilian writer who wrote about slavery, religion and discrimination. Caetano was the first woman to write a novel in 20th-century Brazil.

Biography

Caetano was born in

São Sebastião do Paraíso São Sebastião do Paraíso is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 71,445 people living in a total area of 822 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudo ...

in Brazil. She was of Angolan descent, specifically of the

Chokwe people __NOTOC__ The Chokwe people, known by many other names (including Kioko, Bajokwe, Chibokwe, Kibokwe, Ciokwe, Cokwe or Badjok), are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group of Central Africa, Central and Southern Africa. They are found primarily in An ...

. Caetano wrote about

Afro-Brazilians Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...

, including slavery, religion and discrimination. Her book ''Negra Efigênia, paixão do senhor branco'' () was published in 1966. It was the first novel written and published by a woman in Brazil in the 20th century. The novel, set in the 19th century, examines the life of Iphigenia, an enslaved woman who is kidnapped by a white farmer to be his wife.

Biography

References

Further reading