Guilherme de Melo (1931 in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique – 29 June 2013 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

) was a Portuguese journalist, novelist, and activist. Melo lived through the protracted

war of independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique in the 1960s and 1970s. Openly gay himself, Melo's novel ''The Shadow of the Days'' (''A Sombra dos Dias'') is an account of growing up gay in the privileged environment of a white family in colonial

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

before the outbreak of war and of being openly gay against the background of an increasingly bitter anti-colonial war. After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

and the independence of Mozambique in 1975, Melo went to Portugal. Other titles: ''Ainda Havia Sol'' (The Sun was still Shining), ''O Homem que Odiava a Chuva'' (The Man who Hated Rain), ''As Vidas de Elisa Antunes'' (The Lives of Elisa Antunes), ''O que Houver de Morrer'' (He who will have to Die) and ''Como um Rio sem Pontes'' (Like a Bridgeless River).

References

1931 births 2013 deaths People from Maputo People from Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese LGBT rights activists LGBT history in Portugal Portuguese gay writers Portuguese LGBT journalists Portuguese LGBT novelists Portuguese male journalists Portuguese male novelists Gay journalists Gay novelists {{Portugal-writer-stub