Maria Isabel Girão de Melo Veiga Vilar (

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, 29 May 1950), better known by her pen name, Isabel Alçada, is a Portuguese teacher, writer, and politician. As a writer, she is mainly dedicated to

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, being primarily known for writing the '' Uma aventura'' series of books with her writing partner Ana Maria Magalhães. Alçada has also held a number of education-related government-appointed positions, including coordinator for the

working group A working group is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. Such groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdisciplinary collab ...

that would conceive the Portuguese school library network (1995-1996), and commissioner for the National Reading Plan (2006-2009). From 2009 to 2011 she was the

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

in the

XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal The XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''XVIII Governo Constitucional de Portugal'') was the 18th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the Constitution of Portugal#Constitution of 1976, P ...

Life and work

Isabel Alçada was born in

on 29 May 1950. She attended

Lycée français Charles Lepierre In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

and took her Bachelor's degree in philosophy at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

, later obtaining a Master's degree in

education sciences Education sciences, also known as education studies or education theory, and traditionally called ''pedagogy'', seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education including education policy. Subfields include comparative education, educational ...

from the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. In 1976, she decided to follow a career teaching Portuguese and History to 5th and 6th grade students (the 2nd cycle in the Portuguese basic education system); and in 1985, she joined the teaching staff of the Lisbon School of Education. She met Ana Maria Magalhães in 1976 at the Escola Básica Fernando Pessoa where they were both teachers. The two teachers formed a friendship and writing partnership, publishing their first book, ''

Uma Aventura na Cidade Uma may refer to: Religion * Uma (goddess), a Hindu goddess also known as Parvati or Gauri People * Uma (given name), including a list of people with the name * Uma (actress) (Uma Shankari, fl from 2000), Indian actress Nature * ''Uma'' (lizar ...

'', in 1982. This would be become the first book of the ''Uma aventura'' series which would go on to have dozens of books.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcada, Isabel 1950 births Living people People from Lisbon 20th-century Portuguese women writers 20th-century Portuguese writers Education ministers of Portugal Women government ministers of Portugal