Ana Luísa Amaral
Ana Luísa Amaral was born in Lisbon, in 1956, and lives in the north of Portugal. Professor at the University of Porto, she holds a Ph.D. on the poetry of Emily Dickinson and has academic publications (in Portugal and abroad) in the areas of English and American Poetry, Comparative Poetics and Feminist Studies. She is a senior researcher and co-director of the Institute for Comparative Literature Margarida Losa. Co-author (with Ana Gabriela Macedo) of the Dictionary of Feminist Criticism (Afrontamento, 2005) and responsible for the annotated edition of New Portuguese Letters (Dom Quixote, 2010) and the coordinator of the international project New Portuguese Letters 40 Years Later, financed by FCT, that involves 10 countries and over 60 researchers. Editor of several academic books, such as Novas Cartas Portuguesas entre Portugal e o Mundo (with Marinela Freitas, Dom Quixote, 2014), or New Portuguese Letters to the World, with Marinela Freitas Peter Lang, 2015).
She is currently preparing a book of poetry, a novel and two books of essays.
Several plays were staged around her work, such as O olhar diagonal das coisas, A história da Aranha Leopoldina, Próspero Morreu, or Como Tu.
She is currently being translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa.
In 2016, a book of essays on her work will come out by Peter Lang (Eds. Claire Williams and Teresa Louro).
Literary career
Amaral's first volume of poetry, Minha Senhora de Quê (Mistress of What), was published in 1990. The collection's title alluded to Maria Teresa Horta's 1971 volume Minha Senhora de Mim (Milady of Me), thereby explicitly inscribing Amaral's work into the emergent genealogy of Portuguese women’s poetry.[1] Since then, she has published ten further original collections of poetry and two volumes of collected poems, in addition to several translations (including poetry by Emily Dickinson and John Updike) and books for children.
Amaral's poetry has been translated into several languages and volumes of her writings have been published in France, Brazil, Italy, Sweden, Holland, Venezuela, Colombia and will soon be published in Mexico and in Germany. She is also represented in many Portuguese and international anthologies. Her work has been awarded several literary prizes, including Portugal's most important prize for poetry (the "Grande Prémio" of the Portuguese Writers' Association) in 2008, for her book Entre Dois Rios e Outras Noites, and the Italian Giuseppe Acerbi Prize in 2007.
Books
Poetry
- Minha senhora de quê, Fora do Texto, 1990; re., Quetzal, 1999
- Coisas de partir, Fora do Texto, 1993; re., Gótica, 2001
- Epopeias, Fora do Texto, 1994
- E muitos os caminhos, Poetas de Letras, 1995
- Às vezes o paraíso, Quetzal, 1998; re. 2000.
- Imagens, Campo das Letras, 2000
- Imagias, Gótica, 2002
- A arte de ser tigre, Gótica, 2003
- Poesia Reunida 1990-2005, Quasi, 2005
- A génese do amor, Campo das Letras, 2005; 2nd edition, 2006
- Entre dois rios e outras noites, Campo das Letras, 2008
- Se fosse um intervalo, Dom Quixote, 2009
- Inversos, Poesia 1990-2010, Dom Quixote, 2010
- Vozes, Dom Quixote, 2011; 2nd edition 2012; 3rd edition 2015
- Escuro, Assírio & Alvim, 2014
- E Todavia, Assírio & Alvim, 2015
Theater
- Próspero Morreu, Caminho, 2011
Fiction
- Ara, Sextante, 2013
Children's books
- Gaspar, o Dedo Diferente e Outras Histórias, (ilust. Elsa Navarro), Campo das Letras, 1999
- A História da Aranha Leopoldina, (ilust. Elsa Navarro), Campo das Letras, 2000
- A Relíquia, based on the novel by Eça de Queirós, Quasi, 2008
- Auto de Mofina Mendes, based on the play by Gil Vicente, Quasi, 2008
- A História da Aranha Leopoldina, (ilust. Raquel Pinheiro), Civilização, Porto, 2010 (reviewed edition, with CD. Music by Clara Ghimel, and Nuno Aragão, sung by Rosa Quiroga, Nuno Aragão and Sissa Afonso)
- Gaspar, o Dedo Diferente, (ilust. Abigail Ascenso), Civilização, 2011 (reviewed edition)
- A Tempestade, (ilust. Marta Madureira), Quidnovi 2011 - Selected for the Portuguese National Reading Plan
- Como Tu, (ilust. Elsa Navarro), Quidnovi, 2012 (With CD - audiobook and songs, music of Antonio Pinho Vargas, piano by Álvaro Teixeira Lopes, voices of Pedro Lamares, Rute Pimenta and Ana Luísa Amaral - Selected for the Portuguese National Reading Plan
- Lenga-lenga de Lena, a Hiena (forthcoming)
Translations
- Xanana Gusmão, Mar Meu/My Sea of Timor, co-transl. with Kristy Sword (Granito, 1998)
- Eunice de Souza, Poemas Escolhidos (Cotovia, 2001)
- John Updike, Ponto Último e Outros Poemas (Civilização, 2009)
- Emily Dickinson, Cem Poemas (Relógio D'Água, 2010)
- Emily Dickinson, Duzentos Poemas, Relógio d’Água, 2015
- Patricia Highsmith, Carol, Relógio d'Água, 2015
- William Shakespeare, 30 Sonetos, Relógio d'Água, 2015 (forthcoming)
Ana Luísa Amaral’s books published in other countries
BRAZIL
- A gênese do amor, Gryphus, Rio de Janeiro, 2008
- Vozes, Iluminuras, São Paulo, 2013
- Escuro, Iluminuras, São Paulo, 2015
- Ara, Iluminuras, São Paulo, 2016 (no prelo)
COLOMBIA
- Entre otras noches, Antologia Poética, trans. Lauren Mendinueta, Taller de Edición-Rocca, Bogotá, 2013
- Como Tu, trans. Lauren Mendinueta, Taller de Edición-Rocca, Bogotá, 2014
FRANCE
- Images, trans. Catherine Dumas, Vallongues Éditions, 2000
- Comme Toi, trans. Catherine Dumas, Editions Theatrales, Paris, 2013
- L’Art d’être tigre, trans. Catherine Dumas, Phare du Cousseixo, 2015
GERMANY
- Stimmen, trans. Susanne Munz, 2015 (no prelo)
HOLLAND
- Wachten op Odysseus: Gedichten 1990-2011, trans. Arie Pos, uitgeverij IJZER, 2011
ITALY
- Poesie, trans. Livia Apa, Poesie, XVª Edizione – Portogallo, Lisbona, Instituto Camões, 2008
- La Genesi dell’Amore, trans. Piero Ceccucci, Fiorenza mia…!:, Florence, Firenze University Press, 2009
- La Scala di Giacobbe: Poesia di Ana Luísa Amaral, trans. Livia Apa, Manni Editori, Milan, 2010
- Voce, trans. Chiara DiLucca & Livia Apa, Kolibris, 2015 (forthcoming)
MEXICO
- Escuro, Yerbasanta, trans. Blanca Luz Pulido, 2015 (forthcoming)
SPAIN
- Escuro, trans. Luis Maria Marino, Olifante, 2016 (forthcoming)
SWEDEN
- Mellan tva floder och andra natter, trans. Ulla Gabrielson, Diadorim, Gothenburg, 2009
VENEZUELA
- Ana Luisa Amaral, Antología Poética, trans. Nidia Hernandez, Monte Ávila Editores, Caracas, 2012
Prizes and Awards
- Literary Prize Casino da Póvoa/Correntes d’Escritas, with the book A génese do amor (2007)
- Premio Letterario Giuseppe Acerbi, Mantua Italy, with the book A génese do amor (2008)
- Great Prize of Poetry of Associação Portuguesa de Escritores, with the book Entre Dois Rios e Outras Noites (2008)
- Prize Rómulo de Carvalho/António Gedeão, 1st edition, with the book Vozes (2012)
- Prize of Novel of Associação Portuguesa de Escritores, with the book Ara (2014)
- Gold Medal of Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos, for services to literature (2015)
- Finalist for the Prize Portugal Telecom (with A génese do amor, Gryphus, 2008)
- Proposed to the Prize Reina Sofia (2013)
- Finalist for the Prize Portugal Telecom (with Vozes, Iluminuras, 2014)
External links
- Ana Luísa Amaral on Poetry International Web
- Amaral's bio on the site of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing (University of London)
References
- ↑ Klobucka, Anna. "Back into the Future: Feminism in Portuguese Women’s Poetry since the 1970s." Proceedings of International Conference on the Value of Literature in and after the 70s: the case of Italy and Portugal. Utrecht: Igitur, 2006. http://congress70.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000027/article.pdf
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