Poetry
Poemas
Not translated into English
Alda Lara · 1966
Synopsis
The author's only collection of poems, gathered and published after her death by her husband. The poems of Europe, written in Lisbon and Coimbra, speak of the melancholy and loneliness of exile; those of Africa, such as "Presença africana", affirm an undiminished attachment to the native land. "Prelúdio" gives a voice to the black mother, wet nurse to the masters' children, and the whole sings of motherhood, childhood, freedom and justice in the face of the colonial order.
Context
The collection was published in 1966 by Publicações Imbondeiro in Lubango, four years after the author's death; Tempo de chuva followed in 1973, then fuller editions of her verse in 1979, 1984 and 2014. Much of this poetry expresses dissatisfaction with the colonial order. Several of her texts have been set to music by Paulo de Carvalho and by Aline Frazão. The book has been translated into neither French nor English.
Who it is for
To discover a female voice of Angolan poetry of the fifties, torn between two continents.
Prizes and reception
After her death, the municipality of Lubango created the Alda Lara poetry prize in her honour.