João Casimiro Namorado de Aguiar (28 October 1943 – 3 June 2010) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

writer and journalist. He spent his youth in

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony. Portuguese Moz ...

. Aguiar was born and died in Lisbon. After working for a time in the Portuguese tourist industry in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and

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, he studied journalism at the

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

and in 1976 returned to Portugal to work as a journalist. He worked for RTP (where he began his career in 1963) and a variety of daily and weekly periodicals such as the ''Daily News'', '' A Luta'', ''

Diário Popular ''Diário Popular'' was a Portuguese language daily newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1942 and 1990. History and profile ''Diário Popular'' was first published on 22 September 1942. Its headquarters was in Lisbon. The paper was o ...

'', '' O País'', and ''

Sábado Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's ...

''. In 1981 he was named press secretary of the Ministry of Quality of Life, a short-lived government department concerned with sports and the environment. He was a regular contributor to the monthly magazine ''

Superinteressante ''Superinteressante'' (Portuguese for "super interesting"), or ''Super'', is a Brazilian science and culture magazine. ''Super'' employs simple language to explain complex topics to the general public. It is published monthly since September 1987 b ...

'' and sat on its editorial board. He died of cancer on 3 June 2010 in Lisbon. He dedicated himself to literature, being one of the most acclaimed Portuguese novelists in the genre of the historical novel.

Major works

* ''An Investigation of Portuguese Esotericism'' (Uma incursão no esoterismo português) (1983) * ''The Voice of the Gods'' ('' A Voz dos Deuses'') (1984) * ''The Man With No Name'' (O homem sem nome) (1986) * ''The Throne of the Most High'' (O trono do altíssimo) (1988) * ''The Song of the Phantasms'' (O canto dos fantasmas) (1990) * ''The Pearl-Eaters'' (Os comedores de pérolas) (1992) * ''The Hour of

Sertorius Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...

'' (A hora de Sertório) (1994) * ''The Eulogy of the Spirits'' (A encomendação das almas) (1995) * ''Solitary Navigator'' (Navegador solitário) (1996) * ''Inês of Portugal'' (Inês de Portugal) (1997) * ''The Dragon of Smoke'' (O dragão de fumo) (1998) * ''The Green Cathedral'' (A catedral verde) (2000) * ''A Goddess in the Fog'' (''Uma Deusa na Bruma'') (2003) * ''The Seventh Hero'' (O sétimo herói) (2004) * ''The Garden of Delights'' (O jardim das delícias) (2005) * ''The Sitting Tiger'' (O tigre sentado) (2005, 2nd edition) * ''Lapedo – A Child in the Valley'' (Lapedo – uma criança no vale) (2006) * ''The Priory of the Cifrão'' (O priorado do cifrão) (2008)

Children's fiction

* ''The Group of Four'' (O Bando dos Quatro) * ''Sebastian and the Secret Worlds'' (Sebastião e os Mundos Secretos)

Other works

* ''The White Orchid'' (A Orquídea Branca), libretto for an opera with music by Jorge Salgueiro (premiered 27 October 2008) * ''I Saw the Third Reich Fall'' (Eu vi morrer o III Reich) by Manuel Homem de Mello (edited and with commentary by João Aguiar) (Ediciones Vega, Lisboa)

References

External links

*
Website with biography and photos
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguiar, Joao 1943 births 2010 deaths Portuguese journalists Male journalists Portuguese male writers People from Lisbon Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Deaths from cancer in Portugal