Maria Manuela Conceição Carvalho Margarido (1925 – 10March 2007) was a Santomean poet.

Biography

Margarido was born in Roça Olímpia,

Príncipe Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census;

, in 1925. Margarido's father was a Portuguese Jew from Porto and her mother was of Goa Portuguese and Angolan origin. Her father, judge David Guedes de Carvalho, was a judge. She attended a Franciscan school at Valença and later studied at Colégio do Sagrado Coração de Maria 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 ...

. Margarido opposed Portugal's colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe and supported the independence of the archipelago. In 1953, she protested the

Batepá massacre Batepá is a village on São Tomé Island in São Tomé and Príncipe. Its population is 775 (2012 census).Casa dos Estudantes do Império The Casa dos Estudantes do Império (Portuguese for ''House of Students of the Empire'') was a common home where Portuguese, Angolan, Cape Verdean and Mozambican students—and possibly Goan too—who stood up for the interests of the Portuguese col ...

('House of Students of the Empire'), a facility that became the center of liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies of Africa. There, she met Alfredo Margarido,

Edmundo Bettencourt Edmundo is a common name that is used by many individuals including: * Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, former Brazilian football player * Edmundo Farolan, Filipino writer * Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian musician * Edmundo Rivero, Argentine singer * Edmundo ...

, Cândido da Costa Pinto, and Manuel de Castro. She studied religious studies, sociology, ethnology, and film at École Pratique de Hautes Études ('Practical School of High Studies') and at

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where she was exiled. She was later a librarian and secretary there. 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 ...

in Portugal in April 1974 where the Estado Novo fascist regime ended, she returned to São Tomé and Príncipe where she was later ambassador of her country in Brussels and took part in different international organizations. She also worked in the theatre and worked for the Portuguese magazine ''Estudos Ultramarinos''. In Lisbon, where she later lived, Margarido took part in the dissemination of her country's culture, and was considered by Alda Espírito Santo,

Caetano da Costa Alegre Caetano da Costa Alegre (26 April 1864 – 18 April 1890) was a Portuguese poet. Biography Born to a Cape Verdean ''crioulo'' family in the colony of São Tomé in Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, off the coast of Africa, he settled in Portu ...

, and

Francisco José Tenreiro Francisco José Tenreiro (20 January 1921 – 1963) was a São Toméan geographer and poet who lived during the colonial era. He was taught at the Overseas Political and Social Sciences Institute, now known as the Instituto Superior de Ciência ...

to be one of the greatest names in Santomean poetry. In other works, she was consecutive council member of the ''Atalaia'' magazine, of the Interdisciplinary Science, Technology and Society Centre (''Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade'') at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

. She died at the age of 83 at Hospital São Francisco Xavier in Lisbon. Her funeral took place at the headquarters of the

Grande Oriente Lusitano The first known Freemasons in Portugal were the Swiss John Coustos and two other Portuguese members of his lodge, who were arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition and questioned under torture in the 1740s. Coustos wrote a book detailing his suffer ...

Works

In her poetry, she denounced colonial oppression and the miserable working conditions in Santomean coffee and cocoa plantations. Her greatest work was ''Alto como o silêncio'', published in 1957.

References

External links

, (Principean Creole) {{DEFAULTSORT:Margarido, Manuela 1925 births 2007 deaths São Tomé and Príncipe poets São Tomé and Príncipe women poets People from Príncipe Ambassadors of São Tomé and Príncipe 20th-century poets 20th-century women writers

Biography

Works

References

Further reading

External links